Page 26 - EW December 2025

Education News

privatisation of education under 1,100 by 2029-30 — and that too on jobs” teacher recruitment scam. After
the guise of ‘reform,’” says Nithin, borrowed money — is an indicator three years in judicial custody, Chat-
AIDSO Mysuru District Secretary. of its bankrupt finances. With 25 terjee was released on bail last month
“With the annual budgetary alloca- percent of annual revenue allocated (November 11). Arpita Mukherjee
tion for education almost stationary towards freebies — free bus rides for was released last year. It’s pertinent
for the past three years, there’s been women, 200 units of free electricity to note that on the day of Chatterjee’s
no improvement in the condition for all, and doles for unemployed arrest the Central government’s En-
of the state’s 49,300 government youth — attaining the target of 6,000 forcement Directorate seized Rs.20
primary-secondary — especially rural KPS statewide won’t be fulfilled in crore in cash from Mukherjee’s home
schools which grudgingly host 5 mil- the forseeable future. in upscale Belgharia.
lion children,” he adds. But with protests mounting Earlier, prominent TMC leaders,
According to the latest UDISE+ against shut down and consolidation party members and senior officials
(2023-24) data, 1,052 government of existing government schools, edu- including Manik Bhattacharya, TMC
schools in Karnataka don’t have cation minister Bangarappa made MLA and former chairman of the West
functional electricity, 1,000 don’t a U-turn declaring “no government Bengal Board of Primary Education;
provide toilets for girls and 29,000 school will be shut down”. Therefore, Santanu Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh,
don’t provide computer/internet government school reforms — and TMC youth wing leaders; Kalyanmoy
facility. Moreover, 1,078 schools the KPS schools programme — is Ganguly, former president of the West
have zero enrolment. Therefore, the likely to be placed on a distant back- Bengal Board of Secondary Education;
government’s proposal to merge burner. and Subir Bhattacharya, former chair-
and upgrade them into larger, well- Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) man of the West Bengal School Service
equipped KPS schools makes good Commission (WBSSC) were arrested
sense, say informed educationists. WEST BENGAL for neck deep involvement in teacher
“schools into large, well-equipped Unending nightmare recruitment, exam malpractices and
Consolidation of small unviable
related scams.
KPS is a long-overdue reform. In Recurring scandals in pub-
2018, the education ministry pro- lic education in a state where
posed 6,000 KPS schools statewide quality education has tradi-
— one in every gram panchayat of tionally been highly revered
the state. Currently, most gram pan- has aroused widespread in-
chayats have separate primary, up- dignation. Media reports are
per primary and secondary schools, rife of aspirant teachers land-
most of them in run-down condition. ing jobs after paying bribes
The KPS model aims to merge and of Rs.18-20 lakh and some
consolidate these fragmented institu- recruited despite submitting
tions into single pre-primary to class blank answer sheets in the
XII schools with better infrastruc- mandatory TET (teacher eli-
ture, qualified teachers and the op- gibility test). During the past
tion of Kannada or English medium three years in particular,
instruction. It’s better to have 6,000 Chatterjee (centre): Mamata’s torpedo teacher recruitment scandals
well-equipped KPS schools than have become a prolonged de-
49,000 under-resourced public est bengal’s teacher re- bacle damaging thousands of teachers
schools. Students will surely gain cruitment scams and scan- who have become collateral damage
from learning in a well-resourced Wdals is a nightmare without in a war in which TMC grandees seem
composite campus. However govern- end for the state’s Trinamool Congress untouched. Following Chatterjee’s bail
ment must ensure good roads and (TMC) government. It could well sink plea being granted, there’s widespread
free transport so children can reach TMC and chief minister Mamata Ba- public outrage that the man at the cen-
their KPS schools conveniently and nerjee in the imminent state legisla- tre of the scandal is walking free, while
safely,” says Prof. A.S. Seethar- tive assembly election now only six thousands of aspiring teachers contin-
amu, former professor of education months away. ue to grapple with career disruption,
at the Institute of Social and Eco- In July 2022, education minister income loss and social stigma.
nomic Change, Bengaluru. Partha Chatterjee, and his mistress, Against this backdrop, Chatter-
However, the state government’s cinema actress Arpita Mukherjee, were jee’s release on bail has triggered a
proposal to increase the number of arrested for involvement in the state’s full-blown political slugfest, with all
KPS schools statewide from 308 to high-profile multi-crore “cash-for- major parties racing to weaponise

26 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2025