Guwahati Dec 24 PTI Concerns over use of vernacular or main language of an area for imparting education at the primary level under the National Education Policy NEP 2020 in multilingual states and infrastructure shortcomings were voiced by Opposition legislators in the Assam Assembly on Friday during a discussion on the NEP They also urged for more deliberations on the NEP rather than hastily implementing it Education Minister Ranoj Pegu however sought to assuage the apprehensions and said the state was prepared for its successful implementation in a time-bound manner Replying to the discussion on the NEP done under Speakers Initiative on the last day of the Winter Session Pegu said regarding education in vernacular language he has already discussed it with different Sahitya Sabhas of Assam Work to prepare curriculum and textbook is underway in this regard he added Pegu also said based on the model formulated by the National Council of Educational Research and Training the State Council Of Educational Research And Training will prepare the textbook under the NEP The state government has been providing textbooks to students in different languages at present and there is no reason it cannot do so in the future he added Pegu further said the main objective of the NEP is to introduce a student friendly environment which will have multiple exit and entry scope for every student in order to continue education as per convenience though there will a specific period to complete a degree He informed the House that as part of the process to implement the NEP the state government has convened a meeting of vice-chancellors of universities of the state on December 28 which will take some key decisions regarding implementation of the policy in higher education along with preparation of curriculum The minister said with implementation of the NEP 50 hours of training for the existing teaching staffs of Assam will become mandatory and training at various levels will be undertaken Earlier participating in the discussion Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia Congress said the NEP should be implemented only after there is clarity on how mother tongue or the main local language of an area will be used as the medium of instruction at the primary level in a multilingual state like Assam Saikia also claimed that the NEP puts thrust on establishment of private schools and cost of education could escalate under it Manoranjan Talukdar of CPIM said there was no mention of any analysis of shortcomings in earlier education policies and commissions set up for the purpose He also stressed on increasing budgetary allocation for Education department to ensure gap in infrastructure as needed under NEP is met AIUDF legislator Mujibur Rahman said proper planning is key to successful implementation of the NEP and added that the government must ensure it was prepared on all fronts PTI SSG RG RG

Guwahati Dec 24 PTI More than 40 per cent of the legislators who had submitted queries for the Question Hour were found to be absent when their turn came in the Assembly on Friday which also happened to be the concluding day of the Winter Session Of the 20 questions listed for the day 16 were taken up during the 60-minute session with which the days proceedings commenced in the House Seven of 16 questions however had to be skipped as the MLAs who had posed the queries were not present in the Assembly In all nine questions were attended to during the hour-long session Of the seven absentee MLAs two each are from the ruling BJP the opposition Congress and the AIUDF One of them is a member of the Asom Gana Parishad AGP CPI M legislator Manoranjan Talukdar when approached said the days proceedings began 30 minutes ahead of the usual schedule and communication gap could be one reason why the MLAs did not turn up during the Question Hour The speaker had announced yesterday that the House will assemble at 9 am There might have been some gap in communication but there was also lag on the part of the legislators The Question Hour is very crucial as information on various pertinent issues are shared and discussed at that time he told PTI The House proceedings were rescheduled to enable Muslim legislators attend Friday prayers Talukdar further said that another reason why as many as 16 questions could be taken up during the day was that the hour passed off without any disruption On most days less than eight questions are attended to on the floor of the House When the questions pertain to departments that are not functioning properly discussions are usually long That way not many questions can be taken up in a day Talukdar said Congress legislator Kamalakshya Dey Purkayastha held the sudden change in schedule responsible for the absence of the MLAs There was some confusion among the MLAs Hence many did not reach on time That said as MLAs we should be present in the House 30 minutes before the proceedings begin There was some negligence on our part today Purkayastha added Industry and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary who did not wish to say much on the matter simply stated that it is duty of the MLAs to attend all proceedings PTI SSG RMS RMS

Guwahati Dec 24 PTI More than 40 per cent of the legislators who had submitted queries for the Question Hour were found to be absent when their turn came in the Assembly on Friday which also happened to be the concluding day of the Winter Session Of the 20 questions listed for the day 16 were taken up during the 60-minute session with which the days proceedings commenced in the House Seven questions however had to be skipped as the MLAs who had posed the queries were not present in the Assembly Of the seven absentee MLAs two each are from the ruling BJP the opposition Congress and the AIUDF One of them is a member of the Asom Gana Parishad AGP CPI M legislator Manoranjan Talukdar when approached said the days proceedings began 30 minutes ahead of the usual schedule and communication gap could be one reason why the MLAs did not turn up during the Question Hour The speaker had announced yesterday that the House will assemble at 9 am There might have been some gap in communication but there was also lag on the part of the legislators The Question Hour is very crucial as information on various pertinent issues are shared and discussed at that time he told PTI The House proceedings were rescheduled to enable Muslim legislators attend Friday prayers Talukdar further said that another reason why as many as 16 questions could be taken up during the day was that the hour passed off without any disruption On most days less than eight questions are attended to on the floor of the House When the questions pertain to departments that are not functioning properly discussions are usually long That way not many questions can be taken up in a day Talukdar said Congress legislator Kamalakshya Dey Purkayastha held the sudden change in schedule responsible for the absence of the MLAs There was some confusion among the MLAs Hence many did not reach on time That said as MLAs we should be present in the House 30 minutes before the proceedings begin There was some negligence on our part today Purkayastha added Industry and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary who did not wish to say much on the matter simply said it is duty of MLAs to attend all proceedings PTI SSG RMS RMS