Page 23 - EducationWorld May 2022

who pledged to invest Rs.10,000 1.2 million aspirant teachers
crore in the state over the next ten statewide who have acquired
years. However, it’s important to B.Ed degrees have become
note that the signing of MoUs and age-ineligible to write the
investment pledges are ceremonial State Level Selection Test.
statements of intent rather than Lack of transparency and
binding contracts. Ground condi- prolonged delay in teacher
tions and the investment climate — recruitment is generating
the preserve of the state government outrage within the state’s
— have to be conducive for MoUs academia and bhadralok (re-
and pledges to translate into on-the- fined middle class). Knowl-
ground projects. edgeable academics are
In this connection, West Bengal’s questioning the trumpeting
history has been tragic. From the of MoUs signed with foreign
mid-1960s onward, two communist Banerjee at summit: ceremonial commitments universities at BGBS 2022,
parties — the CPI and CPM — domi- while no attention is being
nated West Bengal politics and dur- ment by Purnendu Chatterjee, head paid to the utterly derelict condition
ing the uninterrupted rule of the lat- of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), to of the state’s public school system,
ter for 34 years (1977-2011), rampant establish a greenfield world-class plagued for years by poor infrastruc-
trade unionism backed by the CPM research university in frontier tech- ture and an alarmingly high 1:59
prompted sustained flight of capital, nologies in Kolkata, which intends to teacher-pupil ratio.
destroyed industry and generated attract 200 research scholars every “Attendance in online classes con-
mass unemployment. Unfortunately year. Though Chatterjee has declined ducted by us plunged to 5-6 percent
since then, extortionist youth-wing to cite a figure, it is estimated that during the unwarrantedly prolonged
members of the CPM have switched TCG will invest Rs.2,500 crore, mak- 99 weeks lockdown of schools in
sides and have continued to create ing it one of the largest investments Bengal. With recruitment stalled
law and order problems as youth by a private entrepreneur in West since 2016, there is an acute short-
wings of TMC. This unchanged Bengal. age of teachers in rural hinterlands
ground condition has made domestic But even in the education sector, of the state which will force a huge
and foreign investors wary of invest- the investment climate is less than number of children to dropout of the
ing in West Bengal. perfect. On February 28, the Calcutta education system,” warns Swarn-
e that as it may, a notable fea- high court ordered a CBI inquiry endu Sinha, assistant teacher in a
Bture of BGBS 2022 was several into the state’s long-standing teacher state government school in the Nadia
high-potential initiatives in higher recruitment scam dating back to district.
education. Over 15 MoUs were 2016. The court observed that According to Suman Sengupta,
signed between state and foreign “prima facie evidence” raises “a seri- a well-known public intellectual,
universities, including five by Jadav- ous concern” about the involvement chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s
pur University, and three by Calcutta of government officials in recruiting “lack of urgency about teacher re-
University. 10,000 government school teachers. cruitment and her apathy about the
Jadavpur U has signed MoUs with Consequently, the CBI has registered future of students in public schools
University of Warsaw (Poland) and a case against Alok Kumar Sarkar, a will result in an entire generation
Exeter University (UK) and Calcutta deputy director of the West Bengal losing its future.”
U with UCL London, University of Directorate of School Education, and Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
Leeds (UK) and the University of several officials of the School Service
Warsaw. Vidyasagar University, Commission. TAMIL NADU
Midnapore signed an MoU with the No exams have been conducted
Russian Academy of Sciences, and for the recruitment of teachers in Dormant issue
Presidency University, Kolkata with state-run schools after 2016, and
Jamshedpur-based Atomic Minerals several writ petitions alleging mal- backlash
Directorate. Among private universi- practices are pending in the Calcutta
ties, Sister Nivedita University, New high court. According to Shankar WEPT TO POWER IN THE LEGISLA-
Town signed an MoU with Okayama Samanta, convener of the West TIVE assembly election held in
University, Japan. Bengal SLST Candidates Association, SApril 2021 with a comfortable
However, academic news that since no recruitment notices have majority of 159 seats in the 234-mem-
stole the limelight was an announce- been issued during the past six years, ber assembly, Tamil Nadu’s Dravida

MAY 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 23