Page 28 - EW December 2025

Education News

corruption of the education system in the run-up to the as- THEY SAID IT
sembly elections in April-May. The opposition BJP is de-
manding Chatterjee’s re-arrest with BJP MLA and leader of “The transformation envisioned in NEP 2020
opposition Suvendu Adhikari demanding strict legal action will be driven by improved access, enhanced
against chief minister Mamata Banerjee, describing her as quality, and continuous innovation. Invest-
the “main beneficiary” of the teacher recruitment scandal. ments in digital connectivity, safer cam-
Meanwhile, the CPI-M is positioning itself as the only clean
alternative party and has called for an independent judicial puses, and inclusive learning environments
probe into the recruitments scam. will translate into long-term gains in human
Moreover, in a state where capital and industry flight potential. For students, where and how they
accelerated during 34 years of Communist rule, repeated learn is becoming as important as what they
scandals within the public education system have aggra- learn. Smart infrastructure is not just a sup-
vated graduate unemployment. It is pertinent to note that port system; it is the foundation of India’s
a Supreme Court judgement of April 3, 2025, scrapped the future of learning.”
appointment of 25,735 secondary and higher-secondary Vivek Kumar Baranwal, chief business officer, Avanse
teachers appointed by the state government in 2016 because Financial Services in an essay ‘Smart infrastructure:
of testing and recruitment malpractices. Although subse- Catalysing India’s education transformation’
quently, 13,000 were declared “untainted” and allowed to (Hindustan Times, December 3)
continue in service temporarily and collect salaries until the
end of 2025, they were instructed to clear TET to become
eligible for reinstatement. “Our colonial mindset cannot be wiped out by
The results of these TET exams was released on Novem- a culture fix. Decolonisation will happen only
ber 24 and document verification is currently underway. when the extraordinary in India begin to live,
However, nearly 1,800 teachers were officially listed as behave and be governed like the ordinary.
“tainted” and barred from future recruitment. We will need to redesign our public systems,
omments Biswanath Chakraborty, professor of which strip ordinary citizens of agency in or-
Cpolitical science at Rabindra Bharati University: “After der to prioritise ‘rulers’ over the ‘ruled’, exactly
years of investigations, raids, televised money counts and as our colonisers designed them to be.”
political drama, the real masterminds are walking free. In- Anjana Menon, author-entrepreneur, in an essay ‘Why
stead, thousands who devoted their lives to teaching have Macauly’s India is an everyday reality’ (Times of India,
been left jobless and humiliated, with families and futures December 4)
destroyed.”
But while it’s undeniable that recurring teacher testing
and recruitment scandals have extinguished the modest as- “Even a 7th standard civics student ought to
pirations and dreams of millions of youth in a state where know that there are three levels of govern-
government school teachers’ jobs are highly prized, the ment, and that there are spheres of gover-
most poignant victims of a dysfunctional K-12 education nance. Politics responds to the demands of the
system are children enroled in the state’s 84,000 govern- people. If there was a demand from the people
ment and aided schools. With recruitment frozen, result- that local governments and local corpora-
ing in understaffed schools, tens of thousands boys are be-
ing pushed into exploitative informal labour and girls into tions be strengthened, then they will be made
early marriage. School dropout numbers are soaring. West strong.”
Bengal records the nation’s highest secondary education T.R. Raghunandan, former IAS officer, on ‘Do we need
dropout rate — 18.75 percent (according to a Union educa- to change how cities are governed in India’ (The
tion ministry release dated January 7) — and 2.8 lakh fewer Hindu, December 5)
students have written higher secondary exams this year,
signalling mass disengagement and despair. “IndiGo fiasco is the cost of this Govt’s mo-
“Education is the foundation of citizenship and dignity. nopoly model. Once again, it’s ordinary Indians
Destroying public schools and sacking teachers does not who pay the price — in delays, cancellations
lessen corruption — it destroys the only ladder of upward
mobility for the marginalized. Their futures are being erased and helplessness. India deserves fair competi-
in silence far from media scrutiny and courtroom conten- tion in every sector, not match-fixing mo-
tions,” says a depressed professor of Jadavpur University, nopolies.”
who preferred to remain unidentified. Rahul Gandhi, Opposition leader, on the Indigo flights
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) cancellations (X, December 5)

28 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2025