GU's 'discontinuation' of Mising, Rabha courses: Blow to 'inclusive education'

In a major blow to the linguistic minorities in Assam, the Gauhati University, through a notification issued on June 12, 2020, ‘discontinued’ the 6-month-long certificate/diploma courses on Mising and Rabha languages. The decision, taken during the 4th meeting of the Executive council and published as draft proceedings, highlights that the Centre for Languages and Cultural Studies, under which the courses were offered, will be merged with the ‘Centre for Performing Arts’ and all the running courses under the centres will be discontinued. The decision to merge both the centres can only be termed as ‘absurd’ as ‘performing arts’ and ‘languages and culture’ are separate lines of academic study. No explanation of how and why such a move is being taken is being provided yet by the university.