Assam: Government School in Golaghat Issues Bengali Marksheet amid 'CAA' Row

Golaghat, December 28, 2019:

Amid the continuing fears and concerns over the Citizenship Amendment Act, a rather bizarre incident in Golaghat district of Assam has taken the locals by storm. Students of an Assamese-medium school in Golaghat were left in bewilderment when their marksheet came printed in the Bangla language.

Students of an Assamese-medium Primary school at Mautgaon in Golaghat received marksheets that were printed in the Bangla language, a few days after they had appeared for an exam, drawing initially shock, and subsequently condemnation, from locals.

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This bizarre incident gains extra significance as it has transpired at a time when there are rising apprehensions in Assam that the language will be overtaken by Bangla, after the naturalization of non-Muslims from Bangladesh after the CAA. Moreover, this apparent blunder has come in the wake of the Assam Government's assertion that Assamese would soon be accorded the status of 'official language'.

At a time when anti-CAA protests are continue to rock the length and breadth of Assam, the Assam State Government has landed in the soup for this act of blatant negligence, and the the locals have been sent into a tizzy. "Will our mother-tongue be lost?", they ask.

Responding to this goof-up, a student said, "The change that we are seeing is that -- Bangladeshis are not even here, and their language is imposed on us."

Stating that something like this has never happened earlier in the area, the student added, "The entire front page is in Bangla. Is this change? Bangladeshis is not yet here, and they are trying to change our language."

According to reports, the teachers did not distribute the result leaflets, as they were in Bangla, and instead announced the marks vocally.

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