GUWAHATI, May 12 – Assam Congress Legislative Party (ACLP) Leader Debabrata Saikia today demanded a judicial inquiry into the row over the Board of Secondary Education, Assam’s (SEBA’s) grant of excessive grace marks to school final examinees.

Saikia alleged that Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had misled the State Assembly and the people on the issue or else, RTI applicants would have been able to get information on the SEBA unduly granting grace marks to raise the pass percentage.

He also hinted that there may be a link between the Education Minister’s statement and the design of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to make the State secondary education boards redundant and establish the sway of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) all over the country in a dominating manner. It is pertinent here that the Education Minister had declared some time back that he would facilitate migration of some schools to the CBSE from the SEBA, Saikia said.

The provision of grace marks prevails everywhere in the country. Every secondary education board – be it a State or a Central one – has been granting grace marks to help those who narrowly miss the pass marks in certain subjects, despite performing brilliantly in most of the subjects, to clear the school final examinations, claimed Saikia.

The allegation of the Education Minister that the SEBA is moderating results of the school final examination is also not based on facts. For, in a meeting held on April 24, 2017, by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on secondary education, it was stated by the HRD Ministry officials that none of the NE Indian secondary education boards was found to be moderating results, Saikia said.

Referring to the fact that during the tenure of Himanta Biswa Sarma as the Education Minister in 2013, SEBA recorded the highest pass percentage of 70.73, Saikia said that the Education Minister owes an explanation to the people in this regard. The ACLP Leader expressed the fear that apprehending a drop in the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination pass percentage this time, the Education Minister may have taken recourse to the statements castigating SEBA on the grace marks issue.

Meanwhile, commenting on the rejection of the censure motion the ACLP sought to move against Irrigation Minister Ranjit Dutta in the State Assembly, Saikia said that the ACLP sought to move the motion on the basis of the statement made by contractor Palash Ranjan Barua before a Class-I Judicial Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.

The Irrigation Department contractor stated that when he came to know that his file was lying in the Irrigation Minister’s office, he wanted to meet the minister. But he was asked by the private secretary of the minister to meet the Secretary of the Department instead. And when the Secretary was met, he told the contractor to pay three per cent of the bill amount as commission to the minister.

Moreover, the arrested Secretary of the Department used to maintain a diary wherein information on the commissions is available, Saikia said, dismissing the statement of the Government in the matter as vague. This statement reflects the lack of commitment of the State Government towards eradicating corruption, said the ACLP Leader.