Page 18 - EW May 2025

Education News

Dean of the Indian School of Public invalid… the scale of fraud and ma- and mismanagement jeopardising
Policy, Delhi (estb. 2019). nipulation, along with efforts to cover the teacher recruitment process for
This year, controversy erupted it up, has destroyed the credibility of 84,000 state government and aided
after several private schools an- the process”. The judges directed the schools, leaving an entire generation
nounced fee increases of up to 40 state government to initiate a new of students at the mercy of a bro-
percent, sparking protests from recruitment process to be completed ken educational system. Corruption
parents. The opposition Aam Aadmi by December 31, with those adversely charges include selecting government
Party (AAP), which while in office affected by the 2016 recruitment scan- school teacher candidates arbitrarily,
(2015-2025) strictly regulated pri- dal eligible to write the state govern- bypassing rules and regulations of the
vate schools under provisions of the ment’s Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) West Bengal School Service Commis-
Delhi School Education Act (DSEA), even if they had crossed the exam eli- sion Act, 2009. Reports of aspirant
1973, and the Right to Education gibility age (40). teachers landing jobs after paying
(RTE) Act, 2009, accused the BJP Evidently disconcerted about bribes of Rs.18-20 lakh and some re-
government of enabling profiteering. the political fallout of the scathing cruited after submitting blank answer
In response, recently sworn-in edu- criticism and abrupt termination of sheets, have been rife for several years.
cation minister Ashish Sood ordered service of over 25,000 government entral government agencies in-
an investigation into 600 of Delhi’s school teachers, on April 7, the West Ccluding the Central Bureau of In-
1,677 private schools, issuing notices Bengal Board of Secondary Education vestigation (CBI) and the Enforcement
to ten worst “offenders”. (WBSSE) appealed to the court pray- Directorate (ED) have already arrested
Comments Sanjay Yadav, ing modification of the order. Relent- prominent TMC leaders, party mem-
Principal of the high-ranked Ahlcon ing, the court permitted “untainted” bers and senior education ministry
International School, Delhi which teachers to teach in their classrooms officials, including Partha Chatterjee,
received a DoE notice: “Quality edu- former education minister;
cation can’t be provided without cost Arpita Mukherjee, a close
— teacher salaries, infrastructure, associate of Chatterjee; and
maintenance, increase every year. Manik Bhattacharya, TMC
Tuition fees are our only income, so MLA and former chairman
annual rises are inevitable. I think of the West Bengal Board of
this is understood by most parents.” Primary Education.
Meanwhile it’s certain that the Unsurprisingly, nulli-
new Bill, when promulgated into an fication of 26,000 teacher
Act, will provoke more litigation and appointments has plunged
the parents vs. schools vs. govern- West Bengal’s schools,
ment saga will continue. already suffering acute
Autar Nehru (Delhi) teacher shortages, into
severe crisis. With exams
WEST BENGAL WB teachers protesting SC verdict underway and classes still
being held, teaching and
Devastating verdict until December 31. discharging administrative tasks si-
It is also pertinent to note that two multaneously has become nearly im-
n april 3 supreme court judge- years ago on May 12, 2023, a single possible. Moreover, with 46,000 para
ment scrapping the appoint- bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopad- teachers on strike demanding higher
Ament of 25,735 secondary hyay of the Calcutta high court had wages, the state’s primary-secondary
and higher-secondary teachers ap- nullified the appointment of 32,000 education system is in the throes of a
pointed by the state government in government school teachers who had deep crisis. According to Krishnans-
2016, has inflicted a massive blow to not completed the teachers’ training hu Mishra, General Secretary of the
the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool programme after they cleared the TET West Bengal Headmasters’ Associa-
Congress (TMC) government of West of 2014. The appeal of the West Bengal tion, in some government schools 10-
Bengal (pop.109 million). An apex Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) 12 teachers are obliged to teach 2,000
court bench comprising Chief Justice challenging this cancellation is posted students.
Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay for hearing in the Calcutta high court As a result, the number of children
Kumar nullified the appointment of on May 7. dropping out of schools statewide
all teachers appointed nine years ago The education sector has been wit- is rising. West Bengal which has the
stating that the “entire recruitment nessing massive scandals unfold since country’s highest drop-outs ratio —
process is irreparably tainted and 2015, with widespread corruption 18.75 percent from secondary educa-

18 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2025