West Bengal: Teacher centric comrades

Even the most strident critics of communist governments the world over — including critics of the late, unlamented Communist Party of the Soviet Union — concede that whatever the other faults of usually brutal communist regimes, they tend to accord high priority to, and establish sound and well-governed, elementary education systems. But the eastern seaboard state of West Bengal, which has been ruled by a coalition of left parties led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) since 1977, seems to be an exception. On every benchmark of education attainment — adult literacy (69 percent), primary school dropouts (59 percent), teacher-pupil ratio (1:33) — contemporary West Bengal (pop. 80.2 million) is ranked among Indias most backward states.The benign neglect of West Bengals 7.22 million children in government-run primaries was forcefully illustrated by a brutal assault by schoolteacher Rekha Bhakat of the Andal Girls High School (150 km north of Kolkata) who, incensed by the failure of her ten-year old pupil Babli Ghosh to write her classwork properly, flung a wooden duster aimed at Babli and slapped her repeatedly, resulting in her death. With Bhakat absconding until the date of filing this report (May 24), the state government schools management has been cool about investigating this horrible incident. The entire matter will be settled only after meetings of the managing committee and the staff council are held, says headmistress Tapati Bhattacharya. Likewise Partha Dey, minister of school education and overlord of West Bengals 59,223 state-sponsored primary-secondary schools, seemed unperturbed by the shocking incident. We have to come up with more ways through which we can stop such practices, he said without elaborating. Although Kolkatas middle class and the media expressed shock and outrage over the facts and circumstance leading to little Bablis cruel death, the muted reaction of the education minister is unsurprising for informed monitors of Indian education. The plain truth is that 99 percent of government school teachers are CPM party members who double up as poll campaigners and election returning officers useful for rigging the polls. They are also organised into powerful CPM-controlled teachers unions. Therefore the Left Front government is beholden to the teachers community. Indeed in communist-ruled West Bengal, the public education system is run to provide well-paid jobs to party members rather than for the benefit of poor, lower class students who perforce attend government schools, says a Kolkata-based educationist who preferred to remain anonymous. Confirms Ashok Maiti, general secretary, West Bengal Headmasters Association: Most teachers found to indulge in such practices are not punished. This has encouraged most teachers to believe they can escape punishment. A top official of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) told your correspondent in a rare moment of candour that although there were many witnesses to Bhakats assault upon little Babli, the most the schools managing committee can do is to suspend her and then recommend her dismissal to WBBSE. WBBSEs disciplinary committee will review this recommendation and can either reinstate or dismiss her. If dismissed, Bhakat…