Page 24 - EducationWorld December 2022

Education News

stipulated in the RTE Act. Govern- es in the conduct of TET. The written
ment schools are community assets examination, marking, interview, and
which need care and attention. The subsequent counseling will be video-
state government is well aware of recorded. Moreover, to check imper-
the need for computers and internet sonation and identify fake candidates,
facilities in all schools, especially af- WBBPE will introduce a biometric
ter the prolonged closure of schools system, and to strengthen invigila-
during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s tion, exam centres will be equipped
high time opposition parties and the with CCTV cameras and hand-held
public made education into a major metal detectors.
election issue.” All these unprecedented precau-
Although the BJP has secured tions have become necessary because
sweeping election majorities in in the TET 2014 and 2016 exam scan-
the BIMARU states of north India dals, state education minister Par-
despite neglecting education, in tha Chatterjee, WBBPE president
peninsular India — and Karnataka Manik Bhattacharjee and several
in particular — where there’s greater top officials of the West Bengal School
awareness of the social mobil- Service Commission were involved in
ity power of quality education, the wrongdoing and malfeasance. Several
Hindi, hindutva, and anti-minorities cases of ineligible candidates submit-
rhetoric is unlikely to reap a similar ting blank optical mark recognition
harvest. (OMR) sheets and being awarded longed teacher recruitment impasse
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) 50 percent plus in the commission’s is severely exacerbating the learning
server at a later stage were discovered. loss of students enroled in West Ben-
WEST BENGAL According to the Enforcement Direc- gal’s government schools. According
Steep fall torate, the financial frauds investiga- to Unesco’s State of the Education Re-
tion unit of the Central government,
port for India: No Teacher, No Class
a total of 8,163 candidates, including published in October 2021, West Ben-
ven as west bengal’s humon- 952 in secondary, 907 in higher sec- gal has over 100,000 teacher vacan-
gous teacher recruitment scam ondary, 3,481 in Group-C and 2,823 in cies in government schools. Moreover,
Ein which bribes aggravating Group-D level were recruited despite during the prolonged Covid-19 lock-
Rs.400-500 crore changed hands is submitting blank OMR sheets. down, only 9 percent of government
being investigated by the Central Bu- Meanwhile even as a fresh crop of schools had internet connectivity.
reau of Investigation (CBI), the West graduates are preparing to write TET Therefore 23 million children enrolled
Bengal Board of Primary Education 2022, over 200 aspirant government in government schools have experi-
(WBBPE) has scheduled a new Teach- school teachers who had written and enced massive learning loss which
er Eligibility Test (TET) on December passed TET 2014 and 2016 have been the TMC government seems unable
11. This year, 690,931 candidates will staging a protest before Mahatma to make good.
write the 150-minutes exam at 1,453 Gandhi’s statue in Esplanade in Kol- ith West Bengal’s once nation-
centres statewide following which kata’s central business district for over Wally reputed education sector
WBBPE will conduct interviews in its 600 days, demanding appointment in disarray, there’s rising disillusion-
central office in the third week of De- letters. However, because of a slew of ment with chief minister Banerjee
cember. Earlier, the interviews were writ petitions filed by disgruntled can- and TMC — now in their third term
conducted at the district offices of the didates who wrote TET 2014 and 2016 in office — who had made education
board. alleging exam fraud and malpractice, reform a major plank in their election
Given the magnitude of the scan- the Calcutta high court has imposed campaigns. With primary-secondary
dal which has made national head- a stay on recruitment. On Novem- education experiencing severe disrup-
lines and has severely dented the im- ber 9, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay tion, West Bengal’s GER (gross enrol-
age of chief minister and Trinamool warned WBBPE that he will cancel the ment ratio) in higher education has
Congress Party (TMC) leader Mamata proposed December 11 exam if rules experienced a steep fall. According to
Banerjee, this time round WBBPE is regarding recruitment of deserving the All India Survey on Higher Educa-
determined to make the exam tamper- candidates stipulated by the court are tion (AISHE, 2018), the state’s GER is
proof and transparent. According to not followed. 19.3 percent against the national aver-
Gautam Pal, president of WBBPE, Yet even as battles are being fought age of 27.1 percent.
the board is bringing in radical chang- in the Calcutta high court, the pro- “Lip service to welfare schemes un-

24 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2022