In order to tackle the shortage of teachers after a Supreme Court verdict, the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has come up with a temporary solution.

The Council recommended that students be able to attend classes at nearby schools which still have subject-specific teaching staff — in other words, what it calls the “horizontal cluster model”.

The Supreme Court, while upholding a Calcutta High Court order on April 3, annulled the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited through the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) examinations, terming the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”.

According to higher officials of the Council, this has disrupted the regular academic activities of many government schools. Sources said that the science stream at the higher secondary level has been hit the hardest. Several schools now have no science teachers.

A senior official explained that for example, if one school out of five schools in an area has a chemistry teacher, students from the other four schools can join those chemistry classes. The school could dedicate one day a week for such subjects, including lab work, the official said.

In order to cope with the current situation, some schools have already contacted the Council and are considering hiring temporary teachers using their own resources so that classes are not affected. However, an air of uncertainty looms as to how long this arrangement will continue.

Sources said that in many places, retired or volunteer teachers may be asked for help as and when required, and many school Heads have been informally asked to use the cluster model until the “situation is resolved”.

A lack of recruitment had already led to a shortage of teachers in state-run and state-aided schools, and the cancellation has worsened the situation, sources said. Teachers fear that the percentage of students in the science stream, which is currently 14 percent, may reduce if proper subject-wise teachers are not recruited.