Page 18 - EW April 2023

Education News

tem, smaller news items disclosed that aided schools has continued to fall
the state government has decided to even after the pandemic because of
shut down 6,845 primary and 1,362 their pathetic infrastructure and scant
higher primary schools. attention to remedial education. This
Government and government- situation has been exacerbated by the
aided schools located in the back- ruling TMC government’s ill-advised
ward districts of Purulia, Bankura, Utshoshree (‘origin’) teacher transfer
Birbhum, Jhargram, Murshidabad policy launched by chief minister Ma-
and West Midnapore are downing mata Banerjee on August 2, 2021, dur-
shutters after an education ministry ing the height of the pandemic.
report revealed that they have less Under this policy, teachers can re-
than 30 students on their muster rolls. quest transfers to serve in their home
On average, these schools have 17-20 towns. With a large number of teach-
students, while the total number of ers having opted for their urban home
full-time teachers in these schools is towns, the average teacher-pupil ratio
19,083, plus 1,181 ad hoc teachers. in rural government schools has risen
tudent enrolments in these to 1:59 against the 1:35 prescribed by
Sschools have plunged after the the Right of Children to Free & Com-
99-week pandemic lockdown of edu- pulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
cation institutions in the state which If the government goes ahead with
was way above the national average of its plan to close under-populated
82 weeks. According to the education schools — with 25 students enrolled
ministry report, during the pandemic, in each school on average — about 2 fort in the education sector.”
28 percent of pupils in government- lakh students will have to suffer the In a state where education includ-
run primary schools in West Bengal inconvenience of transferring to the ing co-curricular education, is highly
became “totally disconnected from nearest government school. Also, prized, the chaos and confusion that
academic activities” as many low- teaching and non-teaching staff will is evident in school education doesn’t
income families could not afford be transferred to nearby schools. Re- bode well for the ruling TMC and chief
smartphones. The one-time grant of deployment of teachers is likely to re- minister Mamata Banerjee, who is try-
Rs.25,000 (for class C qualifiers) and duce recruitment of new teachers in ing to cobble a multi-party coalition
Rs.30,000 (for class XII qualifiers) the state when a multi-crore teacher to stop the BJP juggernaut in General
awarded to BPL (below poverty line) recruitment scandal has stayed the Election 2024.
households was largely used to get employment prospects of 1.2 million Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
daughters married. aspirant teachers statewide who have
Although government spokesper- B.Ed degrees and are waiting to write TAMIL NADU
sons attribute this sharp fall in enrol- the next TET (Teacher Eligibility Test)
ment to the Covid pandemic disrup- scheduled for January 2024. Cluster debate
tion, according to a report published Comments Pabitra Sarkar, a re-
by the state education ministry in nowned academic, former vice chan- n its third budget presented to
2022, the decline in primary school cellor of Rabindra Bharati University the legislative assembly and the
enrolments in Bengal started long and former vice chairman of the West Ipublic on March 20, the state’s
before the pandemic. In the past ten Bengal State Council of Higher Edu- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
years, 7,018 primary schools mostly cation: “No single intervention will (DMK) government has increased
located in economically distressed ar- be sufficient to place the state’s de- the outlay for education in 2023-24
eas have been closed down. This cor- railed school education system back to Rs.40,299 crore, 9 percent higher
responds with a decline in enrolment on track. A comprehensive education than the previous year and 1.62 per-
as well — from 7.8 million children in policy that engages all stakeholders cent of GSDP (gross state domestic
2012 to 7.19 million in 2022 despite in the education system needs to be product).
rising population. The total number formulated with teachers trained to This higher outlay for education
of primary, junior and high schools improve pedagogy and classroom by the DMK government, which is
also declined from 97,428 in 2019 to management skills. Moreover, local at odds with the Central govern-
95,755 in 2020, and 94,744 in 2022. communities and administrators must ment on most issues (NEET, CUET,
The consensus of academia and provide better monitoring and sup- three-languages learning formula), at
middle-class opinion is that enrol- port to the school system. But as yet, a time when the Pratham Education
ment of children in government and there are no signs of this concerted ef- Foundation’s ASER (Annual Status

18 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2023