Assam govt to award meritorious students with over 35,000 scooters

Guwahati, Oct 20: In an initiative to encourage students strive for better results in higher secondary, the Assam government will give 35,800 scooters to students who passed 10+2 board exams with flying colours conducted by the state's higher secondary education council.

Assam education minister Ronoj Pegu informed about the decision in a Twitter post. The initiative is a continuation of similar initiatives taken by the state government in previous years.

This year 29,748 girls who secured 1st division, or 60 per cent overall marks and 6,052 boys who scored over 75 per cent marks or above will get the scooters.

This is the first time that boys will also get prizes after securing 75 per cent or above marks.

"The state government has been giving scooters, especially to encourage girls. This year, boys will also get scooters but the marks secured by them will have to be 75% or above," Pegu said, according to an article in Hindustan Times.

The move will cost nearly Rs 259 crore.

As per the report, the tender process to procure the scooters has already been initiated. The scooters will be given to students from November 30.

Financial assistance to the students for registration and insurance of the scooters will be provided by the state government.

The state government also increased the salary of assistant professors in provincialised colleges (institutes where the state government pays salaries of professors and staff) to the fixed wage of Rs 55,000 per month.