West Bengal stares at classroom crisis after high court verdict. 25% class 9-12 teachers set to lose jobs
Times of India | 24 April 2024
Farakka Arjunpur High School had 60 teachers for its 10,000 students. After Calcutta High Court's order scrapping the 2016 school hiring process, it is left with only 24.
Dhairya Narayan High School in Cooch Behar now has none to teach history at its secondary section and political science and education at its HC section.
Jodhpur Park Boys' School in Kolkata has lost its only Group D employee who used to help out in all its science labs.
One in four teaching posts for classes 9 to 12 in Bengal's state-run schools has fallen vacant after Monday's HC order in the cash-for-jobs scam. The 19,500 state-aided schools had a combined teacher strength of 76,000 for classes 9-12. The HC verdict has taken away over 18,500 teaching jobs, setting off an unprecedented classroom crisis. Besides, the schools have also lost about 6,000 Group C & D staffers.
Schools fear several important subjects may have to be discontinued in the absence of teachers.While headmasters have sought immediate recruitments to keep the system functioning, state officials say it will not be easy to fill up such a large number of vacancies at short notice. Besides, the HC order specifies that the School Service Commission can begin the fresh selection process a fortnight after the declaration of the Lok Sabha poll results on June 4. By that time all the schools would have reopened after the summer break.
A worried education department on Tuesday asked all schools to share data on vacancies on an urgent basis.
Teachers may need to take up Grp D staff duties
The teacher-in-charge of Farakka Arjunpur High School, Sourav Ali, said he was clueless how the school would function after summer break. "We have lost 36 of our 60 teachers," he said.
Krishnachandrapur High School has 54 sanctioned teaching posts. "We already had three vacancies and now, we've lost nine teachers. We face an acute shortage of teachers for physics, mathematics, life science and English. We don't know how to conduct 55 classes in the absence of 11 teachers," said headmaster Chandan Maity.
Murshidabad Lalannagar High School headmaster Sarwardi Biswas said: "We have 30 teach-ing posts. Eight teachers and two non-teaching staff have lost their jobs. We don't know how to run the school now."
Debipur Karunamoyee Balika Vidyayatan in Kultali South, which had six teachers for its 175 students, is now left with only four. Rajnagar High School in Birbhum has issued a notice seeking "voluntary' services" to keep its various departments functional.
The loss of non-teaching staff is also a cause for headache for many schools, including some in the city. Over 4,000 Group D staff across Bengal have lost their jobs, which may now force teachers to take up their duties till fresh recruitments happen.
"We had only one Group D staff who worked in our physics, chemistry and biology labs, we don't know how to manage without him," said Amit Sen Majumder, headmaster of Jodhpur Park Boys' School.