Kolkata, Jan 1 (IANS) Throughout 2022, West Bengal has been in the national headlines over a number of financial scams. However, according to academicians and representatives from civil society, the most heinous among all the scams is the one related to the teachers’ recruitment irregularities in the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels.
They feel that this particular scam is something that will destroy the backbone of the state’s education system and push the future of millions of students towards total darkness. They want the political and administrative will to establish a clean education system not shadowed by political whims and self-interest.
This has also been observed by a number of judges of the Calcutta High Court like Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Justice Biswajit Basu during the hearings before them in the related matter. In their observations all of them have expressed concern over the future of the students if such illegally appointed teachers are allowed to continue on their jobs in the state-run schools. Justice Gangopadhyay and Justice Basu have gone to the extent of giving an ultimatum to the illegally recruited teachers to resign voluntarily or be ready to be barred from appearing in any examination for government jobs.
According to history professor Ajit Kumar Das, the present political system in the state has institutionalized corruption in the education system by giving extension after extension or offering multiple posts to some educationists through whom the dirty work could be done easily.
“The names of those who are behind the bars now for their involvement in the scam include some who had been given extensions year after year or were allowed to occupy multiple important positions at the same time. These academicians, out of sheer greed to stick to these positions year after year, had turned a blind eye towards the corruption taking place over the years. I wish the current scam acts as an eye opener for the state government. Let the beginning of the process of cleaning up the education system begin with ending the system of indefinite extensions. At the same time, the system of allowing one individual to occupy too many important positions at the same time should also be discontinued. Even if I keep the corruption aspect aside, if one individual occupies too many important positions at the same time, he or she will not be able to do justice to his role at least in a sector like education,” Das added.
Although Das did not name anyone on this count, his clear indication was towards the former president of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay and former chairman of the WBBSE, Subiresh Bhattacharya.
As per records of the state education department, in 2016 the West Bengal government increased the retirement age for the WBBSE president to 68 years from 65 years to accommodate Gangopadhyay in the post. He continued in that chair for over a year even after he attained the age of 68 in the opening quarter of 2021. It was only in June this year that he was removed after the central agencies started a probe into the multi-crore teachers’ recruitment scam. This made Gangopadhyay the longest serving president from 2012 to 2022.
Subiresh Bhattacharya at one point of time, used to hold three parallel posts at the same time as vice-chancellor of the University of North Bengal, WBSSE chairman and the principal of Shyamaprasad College, which comes under the University of Calcutta.
Gour Hari Khara, former head of the commerce department of a Kolkata school, said that the problem with teachers being recruited illegally is that for those getting jobs by paying money, teaching does not remain a priority or a duty.
“Many of them might have got their appointments by paying ransom which they might have borrowed from private moneylenders. So, after actually getting the appointment their focus is how to repay that borrowed amount and in that process the task of teaching remains neglected. Some concentrate on allied activities during school hours like private tutions or any private business. Some get into the vicious cycle of becoming intermediaries in the subsequent phases of teachers’ recruitments. In this process, the primary task of teaching remains neglected with students being the worst sufferers. So, cleaning up the education system is absolutely necessary,” Khara said.
Film director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee, who is also a doctor by profession, feels that the situation becomes even more unfortunate when the administration instead of addressing the grievances of the deprived candidates tries to suppress their democratic movement time and again.
–IANS
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