GUWAHATI, Aug 6 - �Assam and Assamese people are struggling with numerous socio-political and economic issues ranging from demographic transitions to lack of industrial growth; politics of identity crisis to poor agriculture productions, weak infrastructure development to distortion in higher education system. To tackle and mitigate these age-old problems of Assam, we need strong and able leadership at all levels and a breed of Assamese bureaucrats, clerks, technical staff, who could emphatically understand the problems and find solutions,� said Shantikam Hazarika, former chairman of the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) while taking part in a monthly intellectual debate Manthan organised by the North East Institute of Advanced Studies (Northeast-IAS).
Hazarika further said that the youths of Assam are less competitive and this is an age-old problem of Assamese society owing to weak education administration, poor course curriculum, lack of trained teachers and poor education infrastructure.
While moderating the discussion, Keshav C Das, founder of Northeast-IAS highlighted that there are more than 1.5 million educated youths in Assam who are unemployed. Assam produces approximately 2,17,652 graduates each year. �At the secondary education and higher secondary levels, Assam produces approximately 1,40,000 youths each year, which adds up to 400,000 educated youths. These are the demographic dividends and assets of Assam,� he said.
Das underlined that out of these 400,000 educated youths, only four per cent appear in UPSC level examinations and approximately 23,000 students appear in bank PO examinations from Assam each year, followed by another 7-10 per cent of youths in other competitive examinations for Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Reserve Bank of India Grade-2, NDA, CDS, etc.
He laid stress upon the fact that the total share of these �competitive youths� is less than 20 per cent of the total �demographic dividends�.
Basanta Deka, founder of the Asom Jatiya Vidyalay movement, highlighted that the Government of Assam and the current political system need to work for developing a more compatible ecosystem for �creating employment within the State� and enabling the youths of Assam to get �dignified jobs�. He also urged the youths of Assam to take up agri-entrepreneur options as mainstream employment avenues.
