Assam mulls 25 pc seat reservation for poor students in private schools

Guwahati, Aug 9 (PTI) The Assam government has given in-principle approval to reserve 25 per cent seats in private vernacular medium schools for meritorious students from low-income families, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.

The state cabinet has decided to seek public opinion on the proposal and plans to implement the scheme from the next academic year, Sarma said during a press conference.

"This is not a final proposal. We have approved the concept and now seek public opinion. If everything goes fine, then we will roll out the scheme from next year," he added.

Sarma said the government will reimburse the fees for the 25 per cent reserved students to the schools, which will have to apply to the Education Department to be included in the scheme.

Schools will conduct their own entrance exams to identify meritorious students from low-income backgrounds. The scheme will apply only to select reputable vernacular medium schools, including Assamese, Bodo, and Bengali, but not to English medium schools, he added.

Sarma said if the government receives favourable feedback from the public and experts, then a detailed proposal will be tabled before the cabinet for approval.

The cabinet also decided to give relief to small businesses having tax demand of Rs 5 lakh annually.

"These small businesses received tax notices under GST because no limit was set. Now, they will be exempt from this, providing relief to around 90,000 people out of the 1.11 lakh GST tax notices," Sarma said.

He further said the cabinet decided to create 1,766 graduate teacher posts for mathematics in schools.

Also, 19 more villages will be added in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts to fulfill the Bodo Accord, the cabinet decided. PTI TR TR MNB