By Muslim Mirror News Desk,
GUWAHATI, MAY 11: The entire education system in the strife-affected BTAD has come to almost a standstill. Even though the death toll keeps mounting by the day and gets a space in the media, there is no one to tell the story of the sufferings of the students as schools remain closed and teachers away from their homes in search of safety and security. This aspect of the BTAD crisis came to limelight during the Junior College Principals Meet 2014 (JCPM-2014) hosted by the University of Science & Technology Meghalaya (USTM) in association with the Regional Institute of Science & Technology (RIST) on the outskirts of the city on Saturday.
Dr NK Choudhury, former VC, Gauhati University; Dr Dinesh Baishya, Dean, Media & Cultural Studies USTM; Mohsin Ali, former Chairman Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC); Nawab Hussain, Chairman AHSEC; and Dr RK Sarma, Pro VC USTM spoke at the inaugural session of the JCPM.
During the first technical session, Dr Buljit Buragohain, Associate Professor, GIMT, Azara spoke on career counselling and career opportunities; Shamim Goney, Administrative Officer, ERDF on coaching and scholarship availability; and Mahbubul Hoque, Chancellor, USTM on infrastructure development and educational schemes.
It was during the second technical session by Dr Ferdous Ahmed Barbhuiya, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Guwahati on the topic ‘Technology, Website and e-Library support’ that Barnali Sarma Goud, Principal, Asom Valley Academy, Nalbari and Sewali Pathak, Assistant Professor Zoology Bijni College (Chirang District) brought forward the problems of educational institutions and students of their area due to frequent bandhs, curfews, arson, kidnappings and killings as a result of which the entire education system in the area is totally jeopardised.
Barbhuiya dealt with the subject in details and exhorted the teaching community in the affected areas to make the best use of the available low cost devices to ensure that the teaching process is sustained instead of totally putting it in the backburner. He suggested that social networking sites such as face book and twitter, besides e-mail, could be used. He said, “Today even smartphones are available at a cost of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000. Teachers can use these sets to disseminate contents to their students as there is hardly any house in the country where at least one cell phone is not available.”
THE IIIT Professor went further to suggest that students can very easily get high quality contents by searching in u-tube where professors and academicians of repute keep on uploading standard study materials. Similarly college teachers can also upload their classroom lectures on u-tube and students can submit their homework in face book or twitter or by e-mail even when school or college remains closed due to reasons beyond control.
Dr Tilak Sarma and Dr Bakhtiar Hussain, Professors at USTM, assured the participants that the University would be always ready to resolve the problems faced by the academicians as far as e-learning and e-teaching is concerned, and if required USTM would be ready to send its team to individual colleges to conduct workshops to guide and train the entire teaching faculty there for this purpose.
A very hopeful and appreciated initiative taken by the scholars of NE. Pl. go ahead and the Almighty will must be with you in this noble job.