Several private colleges in Bodoland Territorial Region will now be under gov't control, says Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on December 19, said that 26 private colleges in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) will be brought under government control in the first phase of provincialisation. Sarma held a meeting with the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU) and Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) regarding the development of educational institutions in the BTR as per the Bodo Accord.

The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a statement, "As per the request of the delegation, it was decided that 26 venture colleges would be taken up in BTR in the first phase for provincialisation." The Higher Education Department will check the status of colleges, infrastructure, qualification of existing faculty, need for fresh recruitment and take appropriate action in this regard, the statement added.

"The decision was also taken in the meeting for creating adequate Bodo language teacher posts in schools in Bodo areas as per NEP 2020. Single cadre post creation will be done in all government and provincialised colleges," the CMO statement said. Sarma said that a campus of Bodoland University will be set up at Udalguri along with science and law colleges in the BTR, while a decision was taken for holding a special Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for Bodo medium.

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The Chief Minister further directed the formation of an advisory committee with the representatives of Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes Department, Education Department, ABSU and BSS to supervise the proper implementation of the decisions taken during the meeting.
In the meeting, Sarma also announced Rs 5 lakh as ex-gratia to Malobika Daimary, who was injured in a firing by Forest Department personnel at Boko in Kamrup district recently, while directing the GMCH authorities to provide the best treatment to her.