Assam government merges elementary and secondary education departments.

According to an official statement, the Assam government has decided to combine two current school education departments to form a new one. It states that the departments of elementary and secondary education are being combined to create a new one. Following the merger, the school education department will have administrative supervision over all officers and employees of the two departments. It stated that any correspondence pertaining to the current departments will likewise be made in the name of the new department.

The administrative reforms division sent out the notification earlier this week. The administrative oversight of the school education will apply to all current directorates and organisations of the two departments. No justification for the merger is given in the notification. Ranoj Pegu, the Assam education minister, has stated that he will take into account objections against school mergers if they are “strongly argued” and requested that they be sent to his email address. The minister requested that the complaint be submitted with the accurate UDISE (Unified District Information System for Education) code and enrolment figure. Following criticism, the state government eventually changed the announcement to reflect a school merger rather than closure as a result of poor Class 10 exam results in Assam this year.