The Assam government has proposed creating a unified entity by consolidating the Class 10 and 12 Boards
On Wednesday, the Assamese government announced plans to combine the Class 10 and Class 12 state boards into a single organization to oversee secondary education. In order to establish a new organization that would oversee the state’s education system up to Class 12, the state administration proposed the Assam State School Education Board Bill, 2024 in the Assembly.
The law states that the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) and the Board of Secondary Education, Assam (SEBA) shall combine to become the Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB). According to the legislation’s preamble, the purpose of the law is to “regulate, supervise and develop Secondary Education in the state of Assam by merging the existing Board of Secondary Education, Assam and Assam Higher Secondary Education Council.”
A chairman will lead the ASSEB; the government will choose this person. Each division will be overseen by a vice chairman who reports to him and is chosen by the government. There will be 21 people on the new board, each with a three-year term that may be extended for an additional year.
In the Statement of Object and Reasons of the Bill, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said, “The purpose is to introduce the Assam State School Education Board Bill, 2024 to develop, regulate and supervise the standards and quality in school education in the state of Assam.” The merger decision was made during a state cabinet meeting earlier in November of last year, which Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presided.
The Class 10 board exams are administered by the SEBA, while the Class 12 exams are handled by the AHSEC. The action was taken in response to SEBA’s 2023 leak of at least two question papers from the Class 10 board exams.
General science and Assamese papers were released in March of last year. Due to this, the government and SEBA were compelled to postpone the exams for general science, English (IL), and every topic in Modern Indian Languages (MIL), including Assamese.
