The Assam government has introduced Assam State School Education Board Bill, 2024 in the Assembly for creating a new body to oversee the education system till Class 12 in the state. As per the new recommendations, the state government has suggested to merge Class 10 and Class 12 boards and make one single entity to supervise secondary education.
The bill suggests that the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, (SEBA) and the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) should be merged to create a new body -- Assam State School Education Board (ASSEB). Currently, the Class 10 board examination are conducted by SEBA, while AHSEC monitors the Class 12 examinations.
The new board will have a total of 21 members, who will have a three-year term. The terms of these members can be renewed for an equal period. The board will be headed by a chairman who will be nominated by the government. An individual vice chairman will be nominated by the government to look after each division.
News agency PTI quoted Education Minister Ranoj Pegu as saying, "The objective 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 need for merging the two boards comes following the leak of two question papers in the Class 10 board examinations by SEBA in 2023. The General Science and Assamese papers were leaked in March last year. Following this, the SEBA and the government were forced to reschedule the examinations of General Science, all subjects of Modern Indian Languages (MIL), including Assamese, and English (IL).