Government officials in Assam have decided against converting gender-specific schools into co-educational institutions. The Assam government has announced plans to change the state-run girls-only schools to coeducational ones and allow admission of males to the same institutions. When education was still considered a luxury for women, girls-only schools were established to guarantee that females have a right to an education in a secure setting. Some schools will continue to be gender-specific in order to make sure parents of females don’t cease their education solely because the gender-neutral norm exists.
The decision to have co-education in all state-run schools was made at the cabinet meeting, which was convened on Thursday in Guwahati under the direction of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma. Dr. Sarma stated, “To ensure gender equality, all schools under state government to have co-educational facility, except for a few girls’ institutions with rich histories and traditions,” while posting images of significant cabinet decisions to Twitter.
The cabinet has also made other choices that would alter how Assam’s schools are run in the meantime. In a significant reform, the government has chosen to teach English and Assamese in tandem from sixth to twelfth grade in all government-run institutions.
