"Education Minister assured there won't be an exam on May 19," MP Rajdeep Roy 

The decision of the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to conduct HS examination of the elective language paper on May 19 received a huge backlash from the people of Barak valley. To protest this decision of AHSEC, various organizations like the BDF, ACKHSA, SUCI, Rupam cultural organization, Ganasur theatre group have all jointly called for a 12-hour strike on April 26. Now, in a new turn of events, Silchar MP Dr. Rajdeep Roy has assured that there won’t be any exam on May 19, as he had been told to him by the Education Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma. He also said that there’s a possibility that the entire HS examination might get called off if the Covid situation worsens further. 

While talking to Barak Bulletin, Rajdeep Roy said, “I had a lengthy talk with our Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding this issue. He assured me back then already that there won’t be any Bengali exam on May 19. He was quite preoccupied with the election for the past couple of months, hence couldn’t give time to think about this issue. Now that the election is over, he has intervened in this issue. He had a discussion with me regarding the possible problems that might arise if we conduct the exam on May 19. As we know that there’s a cultural sentiment attached with this particular date for the people of Barak, hence the Education Minister has decided to alter the date of that particular exam.”

Rajdeep Roy also said that while the decision was being taken regarding the alteration of that particular exam date, he wasn’t aware of the Barak Bandh called by various organizations on April 26 to protest the decision to conduct the exam on May 19. About this, he said, “I had a talk with our Education minister regarding this issue 2 months back, he had assured me back then that he would look into the matter, as he was busy with election back then. Now that the issue has been mitigated, I don’t see the point of calling any strike or bandh anymore.”

He also added, “The current situation we are in right now, and looking at the way positive cases are rising all over the nation, if the situation worsens even further, there’s a good chance that the entire Higher Secondary examination might be called off. If this happens to pass, not just the Bengali paper but the entire examination might get called off for this year. But even if the examination does happen, there won’t be any exam on the day of Language Martyrs’ Day, as assured by the Education Minister himself. Hence, there’s no room for any confusion left.”

No official notice either on behalf of the AHSEC board or from the Education Minister has been published till now validating this new revelation.