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Kokrajhar, Oct. 6: All Bodo Students Union (Absu) delegates today met senior officials of the education department to discuss the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) forms which do not have provision for candidates to appear in Bodo language.
The Absu delegates included vice-president Guneswar Goyary, spokesperson Katiram Boro, education secretary Romeo P. Narzary, secretary Satan Narzary and debate secretary Kwrwmdao Wary.
They met Md Nawab Mahamood Hussain, secretary, secondary education department, Assam’ L. Sweety Changsan, commissioner & secretary (elementary) and chairperson TET steering committee, and J. Balaji, mission director, SSA Assam, at the Assam secretariat building. The meeting comes after Absu stopped the sale of TET forms in post offices in the Bodo belt, after it was found they did not have the code for Bodo language.
Point number 5 of the form mentions that TET question papers will be set in three languages — Assamese, Bengali, and English. There is no mention of Bodo language.
“We discussed issues related to Bodo-medium education, especially the anomalies in TET forms where there is no mention of the code for Bodo language. The officials promised to address the problem and rectify TET forms to add the option for Bodo language,” Goyary said.
Romeo Narzary said they had been forced to stop the sale of TET forms in post offices, as there was no option for Bodo medium students to appear in the exam.
He said Bodos have been struggling for four decades to develop the Bodo language but this effort was being thwarted because of negligence on part of the state government. He said despite the Bodo language being incorporated in the Eight Schedule, the government was apathetic towards Bodo-medium schools.
The union leaders also complained that there was no reduction in fees for purchasing TET forms for Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class and physically handicapped category candidates and relaxation of marks for such candidates.
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