How much education is required to be a political leader in Assam? How important is it for the legislators to have higher education? Education or experience, what is more, necessary for a leader to lead successfully? This question is not just for today, the educational qualifications of the leaders are often questioned.
Earlier, a law was passed in the Assam Assembly which stated that the minimum qualification for contesting elections is 10th pass. But do the lawmakers fulfill the minimum qualification criteria? How educated are the MLAs of Assam? What is the educational qualification of the legislators of the Assam assembly?
The Assam Legislative Assembly currently has 3 MLAs who have failed the matriculation examination. Algapur MLA Nizam Uddin Chowdhury has studied only till the 9th standard. On the otherhand, Katigara MLA Amar Chand Jain’s educational qualification is 9th pass. Naren Sonawal, MLA of Naharkatiya is on another level. He has seen the classroom only till the fifth standard.
Now, let us have a look at the list of the Assam legislators who did not study further after clearing their matriculation examination. Badarpur Congress MLA Jamaddin, Hailakandi MLA Anwar Hussain Laskar, Mihir Kanti Som of the Udarbandar constituency, Kishore Nath, Deepak Kumar Rabha, Abul Kalam Azad, Kamali Basumtary, Nurul Huda, Shibu Mishra, Kushal Duvari, Binod Hazarika, Sanjay Kisan, Bhaskar Sharma left studies after completing 10th.
Meanwhile, Sadiya MLA Bolin Chetia, Doom Dooma MLA Durga Bhumij, Katlichera MLA Shujam Uddin Laskar, Chapaguri MLA Thaneshwar BasumtariAbdul Rashid Mandal, and Maheshwar Baro did not study further after completing their 12th.
Not only this, of the 1063 candidates who fought in the previous assembly elections, only 47 percent had a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
After going through the above mentioned facts, many questions arise here. With a minimum educational qualification, how far can these legislators develop their respective constituencies? Why MLAs are not elected on the basis of education? How can someone be fit enough to be an MLA with an educational qualification of just 5th standard?