GUWAHATI, Feb 2 - Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today told the Assembly that the State Government would come up with a white paper on the issue of provincialisation of educational institutions, and also table a Bill in this connection on March 2.
Sarma who was replying to a call attention motion by AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam said that the situation concerning provincialisation of venture schools or services of such teachers changed dramatically following the Right To Education (RTE) Act and a Gauhati High Court directive calling for provincialisation in strict adherence to RTE.
�We were guided more by humanitarian concerns than by the law while adopting the Assam Venture Educational Institutions (Provincialisation of Services) Act in 2011. Some provisions of the Act run counter to nine Central Acts and this will now necessitate changes in our Act so that it does not infringe upon any Central legislation. While adopting the Act we were expecting that none would challenge it in the court but that did not happen,� he said, adding that a review petition would also be filed in the court.
The RTE Act mandates strict norms for teachers and educational institutions including qualification of teachers.
�The provincialisation Act mentioned that all educational institutions functioning for a minimum stipulated period would be covered under it but on December 5, 2015, a Finance Department note and the then Chief Minister stressed on only �deserving� institutions to be selected for provincialisation and that all the facts needed to be brought on record. We had considered provincialisation on humanitarian grounds but �deserving� has replaced �humanitarian� now. In any case, we will have to look for a middle path and while tabling the new Act, we will be guided by the Assembly�s collective wisdom,� he said.
The Minister added that the file concerned of the Finance Department had been submitted to the court and that the court has asked us �to recognize the teachers� social contributions without violating the Central Acts concerned.�
Sarma said that bringing in more institutions under provincialisation would also entail a huge amount of additional financial burden and that the Government needed to be mindful of all the aspects of the crucial exercise.
