By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, July 30: USTM Chancellor Mahbubul Hoque has distanced the university from the recent controversy over adopting the evicted schoolchildren in Assam under its Education Rehabilitation initiative.
Hoque, also the chairman of the Education Research and Development Foundation (ERDF), told reporters on Wednesday that the foundation has a legacy of adopting students who are unable to pay for their education.
Insisting that educational rehabilitation is an old outreach initiative for poor, meritorious, and affected students, he said that many schoolchildren from different states were adopted last year under the initiative, and even this year, there were requests from different quarters to start the initiative again.
“As the eviction drive was going on and we got many requests, I made a statement about it. Initially, the idea was appreciated, but all of a sudden, the entire narrative was twisted and misinterpreted,” he said.
Following the statement, members of various pressure groups made a beeline for the university to discuss the matter. The university clarified the matter to them. “The issue has nothing to do with USTM,” Hoque said, adding that orphans and strife-affected children had been adopted in the past.
He said that the whole idea behind the initiative was to adopt genuine, eligible, and meritorious students among the homeless people. “The university does not even have space to accommodate such students,” he said.
The foundation’s education rehab initiative began in 2012 as a part of its humanitarian outreach for the underprivileged sections of society after necessary verification of documents to ensure the benefits reach the right children.
Over the past decade, the ERDF has been a quiet but powerful force for change and upliftment, supporting nearly 1,000 marginalised children, including orphans, victims of conflict, natural disasters, and displaced communities. Of these, 500 students have been directly supported through ERDF’s institutions, while another 750 have benefited indirectly, a testament to the foundation’s ongoing mission to enable academic continuity, rebuild futures, and ensure quality education where it is needed most.
