Amend teacher recruitment laws: Centre to West Bengal

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked the West Bengal government to amend state laws and procedures on primary teacher recruitment to ensure conformity to the regulations of the National Council for Teacher Education regulations and the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

The advisory from the central government is in response to an advertisement issued by the West Bengal government about two months ago to recruit 58,000 teachers. The eligibility criteria set out in the advertisement is completion of education up to Class X.

The NCTE regulations require primary school teachers to have completed a two-year diploma in teachers��� education and 50% marks at the Class XII level.

The ministry���s displeasure with the state government comes on the heels of the Centre���s intervention to help the West Bengal government after the Calcutta High Court declared courses run by primary teacher training institutes (PTTI) in the state as illegal due to lack of NCTE recognition.

This meant that over 31,000 teachers with a one-year diploma in education found themselves in a bind. However, inspite of the Centre���s intervention to ensure that these teachers are regularised, the West Bengal government failed to take corrective steps in their recruitment criteria and process.

���We want and expect state governments to cooperate with us by amending laws and bringing them in conformity with the central legislation,��� minister for human resource development Kapil Sibal said.

Giving details on the controversy, Mr Sibal said PTTIs in West Bengal were offering one-year Diploma in Education to Class X pass students while the NCTE regulation mandates a two-year DEd programme for primary teachers.

And, only students who have cleared Class XII with 50% marks are eligible for the course. Hence, these PTTIs were not recognised by the NCTE. In October last year, Calcutta High Court, had declared 122 PTTIs of the state illegal, as these institutes were not recognised by the NCTE.

As a result of the judgement, 31,141 persons were adversely affected. While some have been awarded diploma by the non-recognised PTTIs, others could not write the examination because of the court injunction.