The Government of Assam has undertaken transformative initiatives in higher education, emphasising access, equity, and quality through flagship schemes and digital governance. A proactive push has been made to ensure that students from all backgrounds, especially girls, receive the necessary support for pursuing higher education.
The Mukhya Mantir Nijut Moina Aasoni, which provides financial assistance to girl students in Higher Secondary, Undergraduate (UG), Postgraduate (PG), and B.Ed. courses in provincialised, Government, and venture institutions in the State, is expected to contribute significantly to gross enrolment ratio while tackling the menace of child and early marriage in Assam.
The Dr Bani Kanta Kakati Merit Award and the Fee Waiver Scheme have been key enablers in ensuring inclusivity and access to equitable quality education. This will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goal-4, which is to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” While the former recognises academic excellence and ensures access to higher education by providing meritorious students with two-wheelers, the latter facilitates admission of students from low-income groups in undergraduate courses in Government and provincialised colleges with obvious social benefits.
In line with the vision of digital governance, the Samarth e-Gov system has been adopted by the Government of Assam thereby enabling effective governance and monitoring of higher education. For the first time, UG admissions under NEP-2020 were conducted using the Samarth admission portal for the academic session 2023-24, covering government and provincialised colleges and State universities. The Samarth Admission Portal provided a single-window platform for applications and admissions to all programmes and institutions across Assam resulting in savings of time and money.
This year, the common admission portal was extended to private colleges and private university departments, making the total count exceed 600 with absorption ratio for admissions, combining CUET and non-CUET applicants, reaching a high of 88.2%.
Around 19,000 employee records of college employees and 4,20,000 student records were added to the portal in 2023. The HRMIS module facilitates real-time tracking of posts sanctioned by the Government and correlates these with departmental positions aligned with roster endorsements and notifications thereby cutting down on anomalies. The Finance module of Samarth e-Gov now handles the fixation of pay for promoted employees. Separate portals have been deployed for academic management by the 13 autonomous colleges in Assam. The student lifecycle, from admissions to result publication, is managed through the Samarth portal, with published results pushed to the National Academic Depository.
Assam has also adopted the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 to achieve inclusive, accessible and quality education. Graded progression in courses, multidisciplinary education, compulsory internships embedded in degree programmes, a multiple entry and exit system, and the introduction of Indian Knowledge Systems are key features of NEP 2020. This is enhancing academic rigour and making higher education more relevant to students’ needs. Multidisciplinary courses and the integration of Indian Knowledge Systems foster a holistic educational environment. The multiple entry and exit system provide flexibility for students who may want to pause studies or switch fields, improving accessibility and encouraging lifelong learning.
Four autonomous colleges and two provincialised colleges have been upgraded to State Universities under legislation aligned with the National Education Policy’s clause 9.3. These are Sibsagar University, Jagannath Borooah University, Nowgong University, North Lakhimpur University, Gurucharan University, and Bongaigaon University.
Six Government model colleges and one Government model women’s college have been established in shadow areas (educationally backward districts) to improve access for socio-economically disadvantaged groups and boost enrolment. Additionally, 10 Government law colleges have been established to enhance legal education in the State.
New posts have been created across various educational institutions to enhance academic offerings and administration, including teaching and non-teaching roles in colleges and universities. Since 2021, more than 3,000 appointments have been made in provincialised and Government colleges and universities in Assam.
A significant stride in the last three years has been achieved in terms of institutions being accredited under National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). From a figure of 42 provincialised colleges holding a valid NAAC accreditation, the number has now shot up to 266, with the Assam Chief Minister personally taking an interest in exhorting colleges to go for it.
The National Council of Teacher Education has recognised four colleges to offer Integrated Teacher Education Programmes. North Lakhimpur College (Autonomous), Tyagbir Hem Baruah College, Chaiduar College, and Bahona College have been granted approval to offer four-year integrated programmes like B.A. B.Ed. and B.Sc. B.Ed., starting from the 2024-25 academic session, with a total intake capacity of 500 students.
Measures listed above coupled with general economic well-being of households across the State has resulted in higher GER. Whereas the 2021-22 All India Survey in Higher Education survey recorded an enrolment of 6,00,950 students, the 2022-23 figure stood at 7,49,770.
These, and other activities are pointers that Assam is laying a strong foundation for a more inclusive and robust education system, whose results are already visible on the ground.
(The Writer is Director, Higher Education, Govt of Assam)
