GUWAHATI, Dec 18 - An expert committee of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) has recommended to the State government to bring the classes from IX to XII under one umbrella organisation as per the New Education Policy (NEP) recommendations, and assign the responsibility of the same to the council.
Forwarding the suggestions of the expert committee to the State government, the council stated that the legislative part in this regard should be worked out by preparing legal framework to entrust the council with this responsibility.
Under the present set-up, the class X board examination is conducted by the Board of Secondary Education (SEBA), Assam, while the AHSEC conducts the higher secondary exams.
AHSEC Secretary Dr RC Chutia told The Assam Tribune that the committee was constituted as per the decision taken by the executive council of AHSEC on November 27 and subsequently it has been forwarded to the government.
Arguing that the council has developed syllabi and textbooks of around 72 subjects for the �+2� stage, the committee opined that the responsibility of developing the textbooks for the secondary stage may be entrusted upon the council as per the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2020-2021to be developed by the NCERT.
It added that at the time of designing the course curricula in the line of NEP-2020, the AHSEC must be involved along with the SCERT.
The AHSEC expert committee comprises Dr Alak Kumar Buragohain, former Vice Chancellor of Dibrugarh University, Dr Biren Das, Registrar of Tezpur University, Dr Mukut Hazarika, Professor, Department of Education, Dibrugarh University, AHSEC Secretary Dr Budhin Gogoi, the member of the council, the general secretary of All Assam Higher Secondary Teachers� Association, the secretary of All Assam Junior College Subject Teachers� Association and the officers of the council.
�As per the NEP-2020 recommendations, there will be one final board examination in class XII. Therefore, it is recommended to bring the classes from IX to XII be under the same board,� the committee opined.
To fulfil the NEP-2020 recommendations regarding elimination of dropout rates, new necessary infrastructure is to be created with full facilities so that institutions are in a position to take effective steps to eradicate the dropout rates.
Further, the existing infrastructure should be strengthened in line with the NEP-2020 requirements and educational institutions should be restructured in conformity with 5+3+3+4 structure in the NEP-2020, the committee stated.
The committee has also recommended semester system in secondary education, local need-based vocational courses, making History and Geography compulsory, and the need of a bridge course in secondary level for the ethnic language.
It also recommended that entry registration point and exit certification point for the secondary level students should be the same.
