Assam Edu Dept to provide counselling to govt school students

Guwahati, Sep 27 (IANS) Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu on Friday said there will be psychological counselling for the students across schools and teachers will be trained to carry out these sessions.

Pegu said, “We have developed a school rule book for teachers and students. These will be handed over to concerned schools in a short time. Moreover, parent-teacher meetings will take place on a regular basis.”

The minister said that the students who do not follow disciplines will be identified and they will be provided with counselling.

“We have noticed that some of the students have been showing indiscipline behaviour and they will undergo proper counselling. For that, teachers will be trained in the coming days to provide such students with proper mental support because it is not possible for the education department to recruit psychologists for each school. Once the teachers receive proper training, they can easily act as counsellors for the students,” Pegu stated.

On September 23, a class 9 student in Padumpukhuri High School was brutally assaulted after an altercation with a classmate. This ultimately led to the death of the student.

Bhabesh Deka, the deceased, lived in Senapati Para in the Darrang district and was a minor. The attacker—a minor as well—was taken into custody by the police.

According to a senior police officer, when both students walked to the school veranda to get water with their friends, there was a small altercation. The "child in conflict with law" (CCL) claimed that when the victim pushed him, he punched the victim out of rage.

A teacher had said that after the second period, they heard a disturbance and discovered the victim unconscious. After the incident, he had fallen to the ground.

The victim was rushed to the Mangaldai Civil Hospital but the doctors declared him dead.

Meanwhile, the principal and 11 other teachers of this school were transferred following the incident due to negligence in their duties.

--IANS

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