Kolkata, A group of Left-leaning college and university teachers has released a document ahead of the West Bengal assembly polls, alleging that the National Education Policy 2020 and state-level decisions have severely strained the higher education sector.
The All Bengal University Teachers Association also urged people to make an informed choice while voting.
Calling the document a “manifesto”, the ABUTA said the introduction of a four-year undergraduate programme in line with NEP 2020 has increased the duration of study without a corresponding expansion in infrastructure, faculty strength, or institutional resources.
In the statement, around 50 teachers of various state-run colleges and universities said that support should be extended to those political parties which have taken a clear stand against the “anti-people education policies” and have actively mobilised against them, and commit to raise these issues in the assembly if their candidates are elected.
Requesting the electors to make an ‘informed choice’ whoever they vote for, the teachers’ group highlighted a sharp decline in student admissions as a key indicator of the crisis.
Painting a dismal picture, the ABUTA claimed that of the total 9,36,215 undergraduate seats available in government and government-aided colleges in the state, only 2,69,777 students were admitted this year out of 4,21,301 applicants-just 28.81 per cent of total capacity, the ABUTA said in the document released on Saturday.
“This marks a steep drop compared to the previous academic year, when around 4.44 lakh seats were filled. Even premier institutions are witnessing vacant seats,” senior ABUTA member Goutam Maity told PTI on Sunday.
The organisation alleged that despite publicly opposing NEP 2020, the state’s TMC government has effectively implemented it in full, thereby accelerating the privatisation and commercialisation of education.
The ‘manifesto’ also flayed the policy’s emphasis on employability, terming it “misleading” in the context of rising unemployment and shrinking public sector recruitment.
It argued that reforms such as digitalisation, semesterisation, CBCS, multiple entry-exit systems, credit banks, and outcome-based education-along with self-financing courses, reduced public funding, PPP models, and foreign direct investment-are increasing the financial burden on students.
On the state’s administrative front, the group pointed to alleged long-standing vacancies in teaching posts, lack of new recruitment, dependence on poorly paid contractual staff, and alleged corruption and political interference in appointments, promotions, and admissions.
It also flagged campus-level issues such as factionalism and a “threat culture” affecting academic environments.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
