Guwahati, Nov 17 (PTI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday directed that all Lower Primary (LP) and nearby Middle English (ME) schools be merged to prevent dropout of students from these two sections.All infrastructure development issues of the schools would be taken up for the merger with necessary budget allocation, the chief minister said while reviewing the functioning of the elementary education, secondary education, higher and technical education departments here. He also directed the authorities to set up a portal for identifying post-graduate teachers in middle and elementary schools where they would be able to register themselves.Sarma also emphasised the need to fix post-graduation as the minimum qualification for future recruitment of middle and higher education school teachers.He directed officials to take steps for merging Directorates of Elementary and Secondary Education into one single Directorate of School Education for seamless running of both elementary and secondary education systems.He also directed that certificates of all teachers who allegedly hold suspicious PhD degrees be verified again.As a part of the implementation of National Education Policy 2020, higher secondary classes will be taken out from colleges at the earliest and 1000 high schools would be converted to higher secondary schools in the first phase, Sarma said.The chief minister also directed the Public Works Department (PWD) to urgently submit an estimate of 1162 proposed cluster hostels so that they can be constructed at the earliest for the benefit of students from remote areas.He also asked the department to expedite setting up of model schools, an official release said.The Chief Minister also reviewed the works of Higher and Technical Education Department and instructed the officials to take immediate steps to sort out certain department specific matters like filling up vacant posts, creation of new posts, NAAC accreditation, speeding up the construction works of new womens" colleges and law colleges.Education Minister Dr Ranuj Pegu and senior officials of the departments were present in the meeting. PTI DG NN NN