Tara Sundas cry foul over teachers’ recruitment process

Keeping in mind the poor condition of education sector in the hills, the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) had held the selection process of teachers for Primary Schools. The recruitment for 570 teachers by the administration has brought some sigh of relief to the unemployed in the hills and is hoped that it might bring some change in the field of education in a positive way.

However, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] does not seem to be satisfied with the recruitment. As per the CPI(M) leader, Tara Sundas, only 570 vacancies are not enough to bring a revolutionary change in education. He has also complained that the recruitment process was unfair and not as per the norms laid by the Supreme Court.According to Sundas, there are 774 Primary Schools in the hills which need a total of 2,872 teachers. In the year 2010, these schools had 18 regular, 167 adhoc and 407 volunteer teachers. Out of these, 134 have now retired, 29 are not being able to work due to ill health and 9 have expired. “The figures clearly depict the standard of education in schools here. There is still much need for teachers”, said Sundas to the reporters today. He said some schools are solely run by Head Masters as it lacks sufficient number of teachers.Further, he alleged that most of the selected candidates during the recent recruitment are active Morcha workers. Complaining that the recruitment was totally biased Sundas mentioned that rules laid by the Supreme Court for the recruitment of Primary teachers should have been followed. “Reservation for SC and ST candidates should have been there. But all these did not happen with the recruitment here”, he complained.Further, speaking about the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) held on March 31, 2013, Sundas said that the said examination was conducted in whole of the West Bengal state but Darjeeling hills was left aloof. “The educated unemployed have been deprived of a job opportunity”, he said and demanded that TET should be conducted in the hills.“The standard of education here is degrading day by day and everyone is responsible for this. The GTA along with the educationists, experts and conscious citizens should come forward to tackle the issue.

Mukesh Sharma