Assam Governor and Chancellor of State Universities Prof. Jagdish Mukhi said on Tuesday that the three autonomous institutions in the state should be given more powers to allow them to confer degrees on their own. A comprehensive discussion on the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the state was held during a meeting held at the Raj Bhawan here.
More powers will be provided to the state's three autonomous institutions - North Lakhimpur College in Lakhimpur, Jagannath Barooah College in Jorhat, and Nowgong College in Nagaon - as a first step, the meeting determined. The Governor requested that Education Minister Ranoj Pegu and the Education Department ensure that secondary education sections in all three autonomous institutions are transferred to neighbouring senior secondary schools so that they can focus solely on high-quality degree programmes.
He also stated that all vacancies in the faculty should be filled as soon as possible to ensure that no contractual professors remain on the payroll. It was also decided to form a committee to investigate and recommend solutions for these autonomous colleges to begin implementing NEP 2020.
Colleges should focus on providing quality education and working to produce more entrepreneurs, according to Education Minister Ranoj Pegu.
He emphasised that higher educational institutions should focus not just on educating enrolled students but also on educating potential non-enrolled students in their local community by establishing Extension Services. Kalyan Chakravarty, Minister and Principal Secretary, Education, Education Advisor Prof. Mihir Kanti Choudhury, Commissioner and Secretary to the Governor SS Meenakshi Sundaram, Joint Secretary of Higher Education Nivedita Laskar, Director of Higher Education Dharmakanta Mili, and the principals of North Lakhimpur College, Jagannath Barooah College, and Nowgong College were also present.