GUWAHATI, March 21 — During the almost two-decade-long on-and-off movement for first a separate Bodoland State then for more autonomy mainly spearheaded by the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), education was relegated to, background on Bodo-dominated areas in the State.The harsh reality that general students from the Bodo areas of the State have lagged miles behind their counterparts in other parts has dawned on the ABSU which now have the time to look into the matter in the post Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Accord.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, ABSU president Rabiram Brahma admitted that students from stir-affected Bodo areas had to work harder now to prepare themselves to face the challenge in this days of stiff competition in all fields.
The ABSU leader informed that the students body was planning to undertake some efforts to help out the students community in the area. Sri Brahma informed that the ABSU which has been all along siding with the Bodo Liberation Tiger (BLT) in the run up to signing of the BTC Accord, would keep a close watch on the new council’s initiative to promote the causes of students in the BTC area. He said the BTC Accord had provisions for improving technical education in the backward Bodo areas and that would have to be translated into reality by the new leadership.
“As the traditional system of education has failed to solve the problem of unemployment all over the State, the ABSU will sensitise the students from Bodo areas to go for acquiring technical and professional skills so that they don’t end up adding to the ever increasing number of unemployed in the State,” Sri Brahma said adding that BTC should emphasis on job-oriented education instead of traditional education.
Realising that attitude of the people will have to change first before job-oriented education becomes the order of the day, the ABSU is planning to organise seminars in different remote corners of the proposed BTC areas to reach out to students and guardians and sensitise them on the urgent need to go for self-employment and job-oriented Education.
Stating that experts from the field of education and other related areas would be approached by the ABSU to address such seminars, the ABSU president said, “the people have to realise that the days of waiting for Government jobs are over and will never come back.”