GUWAHATI: Academicians are at loggerheads over the reservation question of 75% seats for Assam board students in degree courses in government and provincialized colleges in the state.

Even as the education department remains firm on the decision taken by a committee to decide on the admission policy, managements of schools expressed utter displeasure at the quota. They said meritorious students from CBSE will be deprived of seats in the best colleges in Assam.

The All Assam Private Schools’ Association (AAPSA) president, Pankaj Das, said if regional sentiments are at play then the CBSE and other boards have as many Assamese students as AHSEC in the city. “How can the government differentiate between students based on boards?” he questioned.

“As UGC funds the salaries of the staff of colleges and universities, can 75% seats be reserved for AHSEC passouts? Should Delhi colleges stop admitting students passing out of boards from the rest of the country?” asked Das, demanding immediate withdrawal of the directive.

On the other hand, Assam College Teachers’ Association (Acta), a leading organization of academicians, is in no mood to criticise the directorate of higher education or the education department citing the interests of ‘their own students’. Acta general secretary Himangshu Maral welcomed the admission quota. “There is nothing wrong in prioritizing students from state boards. Due to this policy, a section of CBSE passouts may not get admission in colleges of their choice but they will definitely get a chance to study somewhere within the state. We hope the government will accommodate all the passouts if they don’t prefer to go outside of the state for higher studies,” said Maral.

Assam director of higher education, Dharma Kanta Mili, told TOI that the 75% reservation formula has been passed by the committee set up by the state education department for streamlining the admission process. “We are convinced that no deserving student will be denied admission,” said Mili. He, however, agreed that a certain number of students may not go outside of the state for further studies due to the Covid situation and this may put more pressure on colleges in Assam.

An education department official said that around 13,500 students in the state passed the CBSE Class XII board examination this year, while under AHSEC, about 2.47 lakh students cleared the exam.

When contacted, director of CBSE northeast regional office, KK Choudhury, said, “The Assam government has the freedom to formulate their admission policy.”