Guwahati, June 5: Dispur has asked the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to immediately submit a list of colleges and schools with a zero pass percentage in the higher secondary examinations, the results of which were declared yesterday.
An Assam government official told The Telegraph that education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wanted the list of the institutions to analyse and assess the status of higher secondary education in the state.
On the basis of the list, the government will initiate corrective and punitive steps against the institutions which drew a blank in terms of pass percentage in this year’s HS exams results, he said.
“Existence of the colleges and schools which scored a zero pass percentage is meaningless and teachers there were not at all committed. The government feels that teachers in these institutions have taken up the profession by chance and not by choice and thus are not bothered whether their students pass. So the government has to take initiatives to compel these institutions either to perform or perish,” the official said.
While the pass percentage in the arts stream of the HS results was 70.23 per cent, it was 85.58 per cent and 81.17 per cent in science and commerce streams respectively. The pass percentage in the vocational stream was 77.59 per cent.
AHSEC chairman Mohsin Ali said there were colleges and schools where not a single student could clear the HS examinations.
He said the council is preparing the list of such institutes, to be submitted to the government for necessary action. “There are various reasons behind a zero pass percentage. The council will see what went wrong with those institutes which could not produce a single successful student,” Ali said.
The education department will also seek an explanation from government colleges, including Cotton College, about their poor performance in the examinations.
The government colleges in the state include Cotton College, Government Law College, Krishna Kanta Handique Sanskrit College (all in Guwahati), Government Science College in Jorhat, Diphu Government College in Karbi Anglong, Haflong Government College in Dima Hasao district and Kokrajhar Government College.
“The education minister is particularly unhappy with the performance of Cotton College and thus decided to seek an explanation from the principal about the dismal performance of the institute,” the official said.
Cotton College’s presence in the top 10 list continued to diminish this year too with only four of its students making it to the arts and science streams toppers’ chart as against six last year and 11 in 2010.
Ali said private junior colleges have totally outshone the government and degree colleges in this year’s results.
He said the government colleges are seen as less motivated and competitive to do well in the examinations.
