GUWAHATI, May 21 - The proposal taken by the State government to shift the academic year from January-December to April-March, is facing flak from the teacher and student communities of Assam.
The decision was taken as the COVID-19-induced lockdown has badly affected academic activities in the State.
In a recent notice, the State education department had announced the government�s bid to shift the academic year from January-December to April-March every year and that in the current year the academic year would be extended up to March 31, 2021. This would compensate the loss of academic days due to the lockdown and would also be in conformity with the academic year of CBSE and most of the other state education boards, the department notice had said.
Reacting to the proposal, president of the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) Dipanka Kumar Nath said, �Implementation of the decision will involve some technical problems because our academic year is fully related to our environment and other social and economic factors. Earlier our academicians had finalised the academic year by studying all these factors.�
Nath also pointed out that to compensate the loss suffered by the students due to the ongoing lockdown, the current academic year needs to be extended up to March next year. But it should not be a permanent system. He said AASU would soon approach the State government on the issue.
Echoing similar concerns, Tulsi Das, former general secretary of the Assam College Teachers� Association said, �Our students will suffer a lot from such a decision of the State government. It will cause problems for our students in participating in national-level entrance examinations too. Moreover, as flood is a regular calamity in Assam, so starting the academic year during the rainy season will not be a wise decision. Especially, in our colleges, implementation of the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) will not be possible with a change in the academic year.�
Ratul Chandra Goswami, general secretary of the Assam State Primary Teachers� Association said that as changing the academic year is a very crucial matter, the State government ought to take time in finalising the decision.
It is noteworthy that the State education department had requested all stakeholders to submit their opinions on the matter through the official website of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA). Interestingly, the website showed that till date around 96 per cent have agreed to the proposal and around three per cent have opposed it.
Goswami said that the education department ought to take opinions from environmentalists, scientists and experts from other fields too regarding the matter.
�At a time when we are uncertain when the pandemic will be over, changing the academic year is not a scientific move. Moreover, most of the students studying in government primary and high schools belong to farmer families. So such changes will affect those families too,� Goswami added.
