Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday spoke of the need for government intervention to regulate fees at private educational institutions.
He also told the institutions they should not do anything that
embarrasses the government.
“There should be government control when it comes to regulating fees or other charges, that is my appeal to private educational institutions. From now on, you should think about this,” the chief minister said to applause from an audience that included students, parents and teachers.
“Don’t do anything that embarrasses the government. A student from an ordinary family should not face any problem.”
Suvendu was at the Dhono Dhanya auditorium in Alipore to felicitate students from the state boards and the Delhi-based CISCE and CBSE who have performed well in the Class X and Class XII exams.
Private educational institutions in Calcutta have always maintained that the services they provide can only come at a fee.
Air-conditioned classrooms, infrastructure for robotics or math labs, libraries with access to digital books, sports facilities and top teachers are some of the features that make private education expensive even at the school level, several schools told The Telegraph after the new chief minister broached the hot-potato issue.
Successive Bengal governments — from the Left to the Trinamool Congress — have expressed their intent to put a leash on private education. Suvendu appeared to tread the same path.
Former chief minister Mamata Banerjee had called private schools to a televised meeting at Town Hall during her second term and slammed them for charging “exorbitant fees and accepting donations”.
During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Mamata had appealed to private institutions not to hike fees because people were facing financial constraints. Many private institutions had then given concessions to students following a court order. However, little came out of such efforts.
On Monday, Suvendu said admission to private educational institutions was “easy”. “Scoring marks is even easier,” he added.
The chief minister suggested that private schools inflate their students’ scores, also not a new allegation in the state.
“In case of evaluation and assessment, please be more careful. Assessment should be on the basis of merit. Students from our government institutions are getting caught in an unequal competition with private educational institutions and are not able to keep up. There should be a healthy competition,” Suvendu said.
He said the government-run education system, “on which 90 per cent of the state’s population depends”, was losing out to private schools because of unequal competition.
“I will encourage the private educational system, but simultaneously our attention will be on the heritage, quality and infrastructure development of the government educational system that is needed or is being followed in other states,” he said.
The chief minister promised attention to smart schools, smart classrooms, modern education and laboratories, libraries, co-curricular activities and yoga in government-run schools.
Suvendu said the government had resumed the Vivekananda Merit Scholarship for underprivileged students, irrespective of their caste, religion, belief or party affiliation. “Your education, higher education, modern education will not get stalled because of lack of money, that is my announcement,” he said.
The government’s objective is to free educational institutions of political interference, he said. “To that effect, in different schools, colleges and universities, political nominations have been eliminated to remove political interference in educational institutions. Autonomy for universities should be our priority.”
Girls’ schools, women’s colleges and universities will receive greater encouragement, Suvendu said.
Bengal has several meritorious people who are leaders in European universities. “Our government’s objective is that meritorious people should stay with us and their merit should be used to make a more developed Bengal,” the chief minister said.