Kolkata: Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said Bengal had missed at least Rs 10,000 crore worth of central grants for not implementing the National Education Policy (NEP). He said that almost half of the zero-teacher schools in the country were in Bengal.At an interactive session with teachers in Kolkata on Saturday, Pradhan said, “If Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had implemented the NEP in Bengal, we could have given more than Rs 10,000 crore to the state. Bengal remained deprived.” He said the state could have received Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 crore under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan if NEP was followed.State education minister Bratya Basu, however, issued a point-by-point rebuttal to the allegations, terming Pradhan’s statements “baseless and concocted.” Basu claimed that the state adopted a State Education Policy in 2023, incorporating “all acceptable aspects” of the NEP while retaining provisions to protect the state’s interests. Pradhan said, “The state govt is opposed to NEP as it advocates education through the mother tongue. The number of students is in decline in Bengali-medium schools. The Centre wanted to open a centrally sponsored Navodaya Vidyalaya in the state, but the state govt did not allot land.”Pradhan said there were nearly 4,000 schools in the state which did not have a single teacher. “Half of the zero-teacher schools in the country are in Bengal. On average, almost 70% of schools across the country have internet connectivity, while 16% of schools in Bengal have internet,” Pradhan said.Basu pointed out that 66% of schools in Bengal have internet access and the rest were expected to be covered by this month. “The education portal includes several private-aided schools where the teacher count is zero. However, due to their UDISE numbers, they are still shown in the govt portal. A corrected list will be published shortly,” said Basu. Basu said the state has met all conditions for Samagra Shiksha funds. He said that AI and data science were being added to curricula.
