Page 24 - EW-June-2024

Education News

in all subjects as a one-time measure. Their priority is to harass private April 21, the Calcutta high court
After normalisation, the pass per- schools on petty technical grounds,” nullified the appointment of 25,753
centage rose to 73.40 percent,” Man- laments Kumar. teachers recruited following a TET
jushree N, KSEAB chairperson, told However according to Congress (teacher eligibility test) conducted
media on May 9, attributing the low party insiders, the government is by the West Bengal School Service
pass percentage this year to stringent unlikely to reprimand, let alone sack Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. TET
invigilation including use of CCTVs to Bangarappa, because the youthful 2016 was written by 2.3 million
curb malpractice in exam halls. minister, distinguished by shoulder- aspiring school teachers, of whom
All this confusion in the state’s length hair, has established his cre- 25,753 were selected and appointed
education sector has generated great dentials as a star elections campaigner in 15,302 government and aided
resentment in Karnataka, a state of the Congress party. secondary and higher secondary
which prides itself for its education Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) schools. However, writ petitions
heritage. And increasingly, public ire were filed in Calcutta high court
is being directed at Madhu Banga- WEST BENGAL in which petitioners claimed that
rappa, minister for school education many candidates who received low
and literacy. During all these con- Banerjee’s burden grades were surreptitiously placed
troversies, the minister did not call high on the merit list and some
a press conference or publicly meet est bengal’s multi-crore who submitted blank papers, were
aggrieved students, parents and/or teacher recruitment scam appointed.
schools. According to Congress party Wwhich has marred the en- Although the Supreme Court
sources, Bangarappa is one of the tire third term in office (which began granted an interim stay of the Calcut-
party’s star campaigners for General in 2021) of chief minister Mamata ta high court’s sweeping judgement,
Election 2024 and was “busy cam- Banerjee has ballooned into a ma- it has provided temporary respite to
paigning across the state”. jor General Election 2024 issue. the teachers appointed under TET
On May 13, representatives of the In General Election 2019, the re- 2016. The sword hanging over their
Associated Managements of Private surgent BJP won an unprecedented heads has not been removed. While
Schools in Karnataka (KAMS) and 18 of West Bengal’s 42 seats in the granting the interim stay on May 7,
Karnataka Private School Manage- Lok Sabha, Delhi. This time around, the SC bench comprising Chief Jus-
ments, Teaching & Non-Teaching the BJP is confident of increasing its tice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices
Staff Co-ordination Committee (KP- tally because of the prolonged stink J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra,
MTCC) met with chief minister Sid- created by the stymied teacher re- directed WBSSC to re-examine the
daramaiah and urged him to pull up cruitment process in the state where TET 2016 answer-sheets and differ-
education ministry officials, including teachers’ jobs — especially in govern- entiate between teachers appointed
Bangarappa. “We had met the educa- ment schools — are highly prized. on merit and non-meritorious candi-
tion minister five months ago when he The sheer scale of the teacher dates. This task has to be completed
gave us a patient hearing. After that, recruitment scam under Banerjee’s by end-July.
he has been incommunicado. We won- Trinamool Congress (TMC) Meanwhile the Calcutta high
der if his private secretary has taken government has angered the court’s cancellation of appointment
charge as he responds on his behalf electorate and judiciary as well. On of all teachers recruited under TET
on all issues,” says D. Shashikumar, Banerjee: judicial wrath 2016 has triggered
general secretary, KAMS. apprehension that
According to Shashikumar, the ed- teachers appointed
ucation ministry is overrun with touts after writing TET
and agents even as ministry officials 2014 may suffer a
are demanding bribes by threatening similar fate following
to shut down 17,000 ‘unauthorised’ hearing of petitions
private schools. “The state’s educa- alleging malprac-
tion system is crumbling. As the pa- tices in TET 2014. A
thetic pass percentage in SSLC exams writ petition against
indicates, students’ learning outcomes TET 2014 is listed
are declining and need urgent atten- for hearing on June
tion including training of teachers to 12. If the petition
provide remedial education. But nei- is upheld, it could
ther ministry officials nor the minister lead to cancellation
are interested in mending the system. of the recruitment

24 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2024