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Education News

to EducationWorld, on condition of anonymity. THEY SAID IT
Quite obviously advocacy of the public interest can be
— and often is — driven by self-interest. “There are an increasing number of keyboard
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) warriors who say things in exercise of their
freedom of speech to just gain traction and to
WEST BENGAL stay relevant in public... What should India do
Scams-immune CM to curb it? The method opted by the state must

be covered within the fold of the restrictions.
ot on the heels of the massive outrage provoked It must not have the effect of chilling free
by the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the speech. A balance must be drawn to ensure
Hgovernment-run RG Kar Hospital in Kolkata, which that the means adopted are proportionate to
exposed severe malpractices in the state’s medical educa- the infringement of the right.”
tion system, and a scam in which public money meant for Former chief justice DY Chandrachud on hate speech
students to purchase digital tablets was allegedly siphoned (November 11, Times of India)
off, a Calcutta high court judgement on irregularities in the
admission processes of the state’s 620 B.Ed teacher training
colleges has raised further doubt about the governance ca- “Indian citizens lost Rs.120 crore to ‘digital ar-
pabilities of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of rest’ scams just in the first four months of the
West Bengal. In a PIL (public interest litigation) case (Na- year; the losses from the entire range of cyber
sim Akter vs. State of West Bengal and Ors), the petitioner crimes — from ‘digital arrests’, sextortion, OTP
has accused Babasaheb Ambedkar Education University scams to investment scams — were a stagger-
(BAEU, estb.2015) of multiple irregularities in the admis- ing Rs.1,776 crore.”
sion process of B.Ed courses of affiliated colleges. BAEU, the India Today cover story titled ‘Beware of the new big
first university set up by any state government exclusively con’ (December 2)
for teacher training countrywide, offers B.Ed courses in 200
affiliated colleges across West Bengal.
Alleged irregularities include non-compliance with “We are committed to providing school educa-
NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) guidelines tion to every section of the society in accor-
relating to basic infrastructure and operational standards, dance with the National Education Policy. In
extortion by middlemen acting in collusion with college au- this regard, our government has approved 28
thorities to facilitate admission of unqualified students, and new Navodaya Vidyalayas across the country.
lack of transparency and accountability as many colleges This will expand residential and quality school
have not renewed affiliation.
On November 8, a two-judge bench of Chief Justice T.S. education on a large scale.”
Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya under- PM Narendra Modi on X (December 7)
scored the seriousness of the charges, noting that recur-
ring scams and scandals in Bengal’s teacher recruitment “Air pollution is not an issue only for Delhi. It’s
processes could drive a matter of national emergency. The other big
youth out of the state
in search of fair and myth is that people believe pollution happens
transparent education mostly in winters. We are breathing bad air
and employment. The 365 days around the country, and the air qual-
bench expressed ex- ity is declining every year.”
asperation with wide- Dr. Harsh Vardhan Puri, lung transplant surgeon,
spread administrative Medanta the Medicity, Gurugram (Mint, December 7)
neglect and corruption
charges, noting that the
latest charges against “Indian school education is in quite a terrible
teacher training col- Mamata Banerjee state. Research studies have revealed high ab-
leges raise disturbing senteeism, and barely half the teachers were
questions about oversight failures and exploitation in the teaching at the the time of surveys.”
education sector. The court granted two weeks to the state Swaminathan A. Aiyar, economist and columnist, in an
government and BAEU to file affidavits detailing their re- essay ‘Big learning gaps but bright spots emerge’
sponses and evidence related to the case. (Times of India, December 8)

22 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2024