GUWAHATI, June 13 � Lack of adequate number of seats in the Higher Secondary (HS) and undergraduate levels in the State�s educational institutions will deny lakhs of students, who have passed the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Assam High Madrassa (AHM) Examinations and the HS Examinations this year, of any scope to pursue higher studies, said the Assam State Committee of the Students� Federation of India (SFI).
In a statement here today, the students� body has said that this time 2,47,682 students passed the HSLC and AHM examinations. But in the HS level, there are only about 1,00,000 seats in the State�s HS schools. Again, 2,04,889 students passed their HS examinations in various streams this year and for them there are only about 70,000 University Grants Commission (UGC)-approved seats in the State�s colleges.
Against this backdrop, it is certain that the number of dropouts in the higher education stage would grow astoundingly, claimed the students� body.
Moreover, the colleges are made to sustain on the tuition, etc., fees of their students. This is making college fees excessively high for the common students. The hike in college fees is in the range of Rs 400 to Rs 500 on an average, it said.
Besides, contrary to the UGC norms, the State government has not taken any step to fill up the vacant posts of teachers in the colleges and State universities before commencement of the academic session.
Significantly, the Central government has allocated an amount of only Rs 397 crore for the State under the head of Rashtriya Uchcha Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), despite the tall claim of the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani that 5,000 new posts would be created in the higher education sector of the country under RUSA, said the students� body.
It also rued the fact that the State government has failed to bring the private sector educational institutions under control and the State lacks sufficient number of technical institutions.
