GUWAHATI, March 20 - Debabrata Saikia, Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, today urged Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to intervene in the cases of leak of question papers of the Higher Secondary Final Examination and the decision of the government to relegate the Assam Women�s University (AWU) in Jorhat to the lesser category of a technical institute.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Saikia said it was now proven that in the ongoing HS Final Examination, the question papers of mathematics, physics and chemistry were leaked beforehand.
He said it was a matter of grave concern that the leak took place not at the printing stage, but at a prior juncture. This was tantamount to an irrefutable indictment of the education department, apart from being a body blow to the hopes and confidence of the people of the State, he said.
Moreover, he said it has been reported that the government has resolved to relegate the AWU in Jorhat to the lesser category of a technical institute.
Terming it the �most disheartening news�, he said it was downright contradictory to the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao slogan and talk of women�s empowerment propagated by the BJP-led government at the Centre.
AWU was set up on the lines of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women�s University, the first such university of Southeast Asia, which completed 100 years last year. The unique feature of this type of university is that it offers vocational courses along with a regular curriculum. There are only 14 women�s universities in India and, keeping in view the need for increasing the gross enrolment ratio of women in higher education, even the UGC has decided to establish 20 more women�s universities to promote higher education for women, said Saikia.
