SEBA in a fix over Dispur's move to shift academic year from January-December

GUWAHATI: The Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA), entrusted with the responsibility of discussing with various stakeholders about Dispur's move to shift the academic year from January-December to April-March, is in a fix over the issue.

The State Government has taken the decision of shifting the academic year as the COVID-induced lockdown is adversely affecting academic activities in the State. The Education department has requested all stakeholders to submit their opinions on the matter through the official website of the SEBA.

"Interestingly, the SEBA website has showed that till date around 96 per cent of the responses have agreed to the proposal and around three per cent have opposed it. But the State education board is now in a fix as many academicians and majority of students including the All Assam Students' Union are vehemently opposing the government's move," a source in the Education department said.

A high-level delegation of AASU on Thursday met SEBA chairman Ramesh Chandra Jain and submitted the students' organization's views on the government's proposal. The union said implementation of the decision will involve some technical problems because the academic year is fully related to the State's environment and other social and economic factors.

"Our students will suffer a lot if Dispur goes ahead with its decision. 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," a college teacher said.

The SEBA has felt that since changing the academic year is a very crucial matter, the board will advise the government to take time in finalizing the decision.