Page 24 - EducationWorld Oct. 2022

Education News

and focus on research and develop- Commission (WBSSC) to appoint as-
ment in existing higher education pirants who have passed the state’s
institutions which need immediate TET (Teacher Eligibility Test), and
upgradation. A new vision document simultaneously cancelled appoint-
to transform and upgrade its public ments of illegally appointed teachers.
universities to global standards is the As a result 250 candidates, whose
pressing need. New universities can appointment had been stayed by the
D
wait,” says r. A . S . S e e th a ra m u , high court because six “wrong ques-
former professor of education, Insti- tions” had been posed in a 2014 TET
tute of Social & Economic Change, question paper, have been appointed.
Bengaluru. Moreover, Justice Gangopadhyay di-
State government universities also rected WBSSC to complete the recruit-
need urgent revival and revitalisa- ment process of 15,924 candidates
tion because a rash of well-resourced for 4,150 upper primary schools and
private universities are flowering in 3,929 candidates for 75,141 primary
the state. Over the past two decades, schools who have passed TET 2014
several new state-of-the-art private and TET 2017, but are yet to receive
universities including Azim Premji, appointment letters.
Presidency and Chanakya univer- The back story of the huge back-
sities, have struck root. Sited on log in recruiting teachers for govern-
well-equipped campuses, they offer ment schools is that ever since the
new-age study programmes, high Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by have become age-ineligible (age upper
quality faculty and campus place- fire-brand chief minister Mamata limit: 40 years) to write SLST or TET.
ment services. Little wonder, even Banerjee routed the Left Front gov- ollowing a Central Bureau of In-
though they charge fees several mul- ernment in the assembly elections Fvestigation (CBI) probe ordered
tiples of state government institu- of 2011 and was returned to power by the Calcutta high court on April
tions, they are becoming increasingly in 2016 and again in 2021, gradu- 7, it has become manifest that bribes
popular. ates who had written TET have been of Rs.10 lakh for Group C and D jobs;
With Congress leader Rahul flooding the courts with writ petitions Rs.10-12 lakh for primary teachers’
Gandhi’s Bharat J odo (unite India) alleging exam malpractices, favourit- appointments, Rs.15-18 lakh for sec-
long march across the country hav- ism and non-merit appointments, and ondary and Rs.18-20 lakh for higher
ing entered Karnataka at the time of obtained stay orders. secondary teachers’ posts were de-
writing and receiving enthusiastic For instance, 5 lakh graduates manded and paid to former educa-
public response, the future looks wrote TET 2014, of whom 2.4 lakh tion minister P a rth a C h a tte rj e e .
grim for the BJP government in the were declared passed in 2016 and This was confirmed on July 23 when
run-up to the legislative assembly 29,000 candidates short-listed for in- Rs.100 crore in cash and title deeds
election next summer. terview. But 12,000 complaints were of 12 properties were unearthed from
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) submitted to WBSSC alleging fraud four upscale apartments of Chatter-
and payment of bribes to examiners jee’s girl-friend, cinema actress Arpi-
WEST BENGAL and board members. Consequently, ta Mukherjee. Earlier on May 21, CBI
Teacher deficit fallout the recruitment and appointment of arrested president of the West Bengal
Board of Secondary Education (WBB-
teachers who passed TET 2014 was
stayed by several high court orders. SE) Kalyanmoy Ganguly and former
EST BENGAL’S UNPRECEDENTED Although 10,000 teachers were ap- WBSSC chairman Soumitra Sarkar.
teacher recruitment and pointed in 2016 after they cleared a With the number of teacher va-
Wrelated scandals which special state-level selection test ad- cancies in West Bengal’s 92,000
have blocked the appointment of ministered by WBSSC, it has subse- government schools having risen to
much-needed teachers in the state’s quently become clear that the appoint- 85,000, the average teacher-pupil
92,000 government schools for over ments were made fraudulently. ratio in government schools has risen
a decade, are in the process of being According to h a n k a r a m a n t , to 1:59 against the 1:35 prescribed by
S
a
S
unblocked. convener of the West Bengal SLST the Right of Children to Free & Com-
On September 26, Justice Abhijit Candidates Association, since recruit- pulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta high ment of teachers has been stalled for Moreover according to the latest
court issued a slew of orders direct- the past six years, 1.2 million aspirant (2021) A nnual S tatus of Educ ation
A
ing the West Bengal School Service teachers statewide with B.Ed degrees R ep ort ( S ER ) of the Pratham Edu-
24 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2022