How BSAEU is forcing West Bengal’s private B.Ed colleges to fall in line

Kolkata: Soma Bandopadhyay was embarrassed. In July 2023, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed state officials to verify the authenticity of BEd and D.El.ED certificates awarded by West Bengal universities to teachers recruited in the government schools of Assam. As vice-chancellor of the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University (BSAEU), Bandopadhyay could not let this slide.

For nearly two years, she had been noticing problems in a large section of private teacher training colleges formerly affiliated to the Burdwan University and later shifted to the BSAEU.

Included in a multitude of violations was failure to follow fire-safety regulations, not maintaining the mandated pupil-teacher ratio, and not paying their own teachers proper salaries. A series of letters and directives had fallen on deaf ears. West Bengal’s own minister of state for school education, Satyajit Barman, wrote to Bandyopadhyay in September complaining of colleges operating illegally without proper infrastructure and in violation of rules set by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The NCTE is the apex regulatory body for teacher training in the country.

Bandopadhyaya was mortified.

“Another state saying colleges in West Bengal cannot be trusted, I don’t know, if anyone can shrug such a notice off but I, being a Bengali and vice-chancellor of the teacher’s education university, could not take it,” she said, adding: “This is my state, it was my responsibility to stop it. As long as I am in the Chair, I will not allow this to happen.”

In November 2023, BSAEU, formerly known as the West Bengal University of Teachers Training, Education Planning and Administration (WBUTTEPA), withheld affiliation of 253 private teacher training colleges. They were not allowed to admit students for the 2023-25 session.

As of February 22, 2024, most of them had met the requirements and had their affiliation restored. But 96 colleges that hadn’t will be able to admit only for the next academic session, provided they comply with regulations. Admission for this academic session ended on November 4, 2023.

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BSAEU taking action

BSAEU asked the colleges to fill a form which had to be uploaded to the university portal for renewal of affiliation. Private colleges are not granted permanent affiliation. “That kind of provision is not there in our statute. We have government and government-aided colleges also but the number is less than the private colleges,” said Bandyopadhyay.

The university found that most colleges did not comply with NCTE regulations. “The form generated by the NCTE system is such that if a college misses some criteria that are required to be fulfilled as per the government norms and also the university norms, that form will not be accepted by the system itself,” she explained.

This is when the university discovered that dozens of colleges did not have fire-safety systems in place – a mandatory requirement of the NCTE.

The B.Ed colleges did not maintain the required teacher-student ratio of eight teachers for every 50 students and 16 for 100 students divided into two units. Finally, the teachers were not paid by direct benefit transfers and if they were, they were cheated out of their salaries by the colleges.

“Many of the teachers complained that the salaries were credited to their accounts but they were asked to withdraw and give back in cash to the colleges they worked for. They are paid a meagre amount of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000. This was the biggest area of concern for me,” said Bandyopadhyay, adding, “I specifically spoke to NCTE for the teacher’s payment and they told me if this criterion is not fulfilled, then there was no affiliation.”

Anger and allegations

The university had already been trying to get the colleges to comply through emails, snail mails and messages. But most ignored the missives. “They told me, ‘If we were doing fine when we were under the Burdwan University, the same should have been here too’,” said Bandyopadhyay.

From colleges that were refused affiliation, there were allegations of corruption against the VC. Even now, Bengali social media platforms are awash with curses. “If that is so, why don’t you approach the court or the police station? Why don’t you bring those to the forefront from whom she has taken the bribe,” said Maithili Bhattacherjee, the registrar.

Bandyopadhyay had a different reaction. “One of the posts is very motivating for me. A person was so angry with me, they said I was acting like Kim Jong. I laughed and told myself, ‘Yes I am lady Kim Jong’,” said Bandyopadhyay.

That said, there is no official list of institutions that have had their affiliation withdrawn. University officials argue that Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University lists only affiliated colleges and not the rest but it has left potential applicants confused and some of these colleges with room to manoeuvre.

When called, a college in the South 24 Parganas district promised this reporter, posing as an applicant, admission against payment of Rs 10,000 “advanced fee” to “book” a seat for the 2023 session or, if that’s not possible, the next session. NCTE explicitly forbids such charges and the college is rumoured to be one of the 96.

An official from another college said on conditions of anonymity: “We had applied for the renewal of affiliation of the college in time. We did not get the approval, but BSAEU also did not tell us that the affiliation has been cancelled.”

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New colleges under BSAEU

The problem showed up after 150 colleges were brought within the umbrella of BSAEU in 2022. This was the last lot to be transferred. “Most of these colleges did not have infrastructure or teachers. I told them if anyone can give a proof, I will resign. I was fighting for the rights of the teachers,” said Bandopadhyay.

There were protests outside the university and a section of colleges ultimately moved the Calcutta High Court and even the Supreme Court. “But the ruling was given in our favour,” she said.

The shake-up was also necessitated by the impending transition to the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme launched by the NCTE following a recommendation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Admissions, court case

The last date for admission in colleges under the university is decided by the higher education department and admission is centralised through a portal.

The colleges demanded that the admission period be extended. “I asked them to request the higher education department for an extension which obviously did not happen,” said Bandyopadhyay.

Only one college, Idan Teachers Training College, was able to secure an extension of 15 days from the SC and the Calcutta HC. This was to allow 2,750 applicants from the previous year to be given admission in the upcoming academic session.

BSAEU: The university

The Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University was established by an Act of the West Bengal legislature in January 2015. Bandyopadhyay was appointed VC in March 2018, for one year. She was previously VC of Diamond Harbour Women’s University.

“When I joined, there were only six teachers and only one month left for confirmation. I had to run from pillar to post so that the posts of the six teachers could be made permanent,” she recalled. There was much more that was missing from the previous WBUTTEPA.

Until a finance department was established, Bandyopadhyay herself worked the cash counter. The finance and executive committees and the statutes were framed later. Finally, the position of a permanent vice-chancellor was advertised.

“I became the first full-time VC for four years… Just when everything was done, the corrupt colleges were pushed under our university. Being a university we are also guided by the [University Grants Commission] and need to be very cautious,” she said.