Calcutta High Court last week left the Mamata Banerjee government red-faced after it ordered a CBI inquiry to probe the alleged illegal appointment of assistant teachers in West Bengal. The order to conduct an investigation comes at a delicate time when the board exams of class 10th start today (Monday). While the acute shortage of teachers prevails, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is busy fighting UP elections for other regional parties.
Reportedly, the single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the investigating agency to file a preliminary report before the court on March 28 when the matter will be heard again. It has ordered the investigation to be carried out under the supervision of the joint director of the central agency.
“I direct the Director, Central Bureau of Investigation to constitute a committee, headed by an officer not below the rank of a Joint Director, with officers not below the rank of DIG to initiate the enquiry. It is expected that no person connected with the matter will be left out of this enquiry,” the court said.
The court observed that prima facie it appeared that unless corrupt practices had been committed by the responsible officers of the SSC, such illegalities could not happen.
According to media reports, earlier the court had cancelled the appointment of six assistant teachers in Murshidabad district while noting that they had been illegally appointed following the illegal recommendation of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).
The High Court has also directed that the salaries to the candidates be stopped immediately. The candidates were directed to return the salary they have received from the government.
Board scurrying to avoid leaks but lack of quality teachers a big roadblock
The class 10th exams will be conducted from March 7 to March 16 at 4,194 centres across the state. A total of 11,26,863 students will sit for the exams. This time the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education has issued new guidelines for the exams, seeing the influx in numbers.
Reportedly, candidates will not be allowed to go to the toilet till the first quarter of an hour of the exam. The board is of the view that question papers are mainly leaked through WhatsApp and other means at the time of going to the toilet.
However, to avoid the leaking of exam papers, the board needs teachers to be its vigilante eyes during the exam. But with unqualified teachers roaming the corridors and classes of Bengal’s high school, it appears highly unlikely that the measures put in place will be enough to avoid any major leak.
CM Mamata Banerjee incommunicado throughout the situation
In such a precarious situation that decides the future of lakhs of students, a state CM is expected to shore up the defences. However, throughout last week, Mamata was busy canvassing for Samajwadi Party and its leader Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh.
Mamata had eggs on her face when she landed in Varanasi on Wednesday. Reportedly, the enraged public showed her black flags and raised slogans such as ‘Jai Shree Ram’ as her car arrived.
Mamata Banerjee continues to shame West Bengal. Today she was accosted by angry people of Kashi for her tirade against people from UP and Bihar, her complicity in the horrific post poll violence and aversion for all things Hindu.
UP police did a commendable job to protect her… pic.twitter.com/o5qxCGcUXl
— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) March 2, 2022
Annoyed over the incident, the TMC supremo sat on the steps of the ghat instead of the chair arranged for her and watched the aarti. Later she played the victim card by stating, “Yesterday when I was going to Ghat from airport, I saw some BJP workers – who have nothing else except hooliganism in their brains – stopping my vehicle. They hit my car with sticks and told me to go back. Then I realised that they’re gone,”
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Mamata could care less for the future of students in her state. Ever since she stormed to power in May last year, it has been a reign of terror where state-sponsored killings have become the norm. The Islamists are bolstered while Hindus continue to live like refugees in their home state. Thus, fixing the teachers and their numbers is a situation that is way down in Mamata’s list of ‘problems-to-solve.