– Mita Mukherjee

The new BJP government in West Bengal has banned private tuition by teachers of government run and aided schools.

In an order issued by the state school education department on Thursday, the government directed all district inspector of schools to examine allegations of private tuition by government school teachers and take appropriate actions.

The order says that the department received a notice from the National Human Rights Commission regarding alleged violations of Section 28 of the RTE Act and a Calcutta High Court order.

The order says a complainant had alleged that teachers of government schools were “flagrantly violating the Section 28 of the RTE Act 2009 and the Calcutta High Court mandate by engaging in illegal private tuition.”

Furthermore, the complainant had also alleged that teachers are exploiting students by threatening to lower their academic marks and thereby depriving legitimate private tutors of their livelihood.

“In this regard, it it pertinent to mention that as per the power conferred under Sub- section 2 of Section 35 of Section 28 of RTE Act, 2029, School Education Department W.B. issued a notification …… which states that no teacher working in the school shall engage himself/ herself in private tuition or private teaching activity in any manner whatsoever in compliance with the section 28 of the RTE Act, 2009…. In addition, as per Point 6 of Section 4 of School Education Notification……no teacher shall engage himself/ herself in any sort of private tuition for personal gain, however the teacher shall cooperate in the matter of remedial coaching organised by the institution,” the Thursday order signed by the deputy director of school educatio says.

Section 28 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009, prohibits teachers from engaging in private tuition. The aim of refraining in-service teachers from private tuition was to ensure imparting of quality education in government schools.

However, after the implementation of the RTE Act, private tuition by school teachers continued with many parents claiming that their wards were forced to take additional coaching from private tutors because of the poor standard teaching offered in the schools.

Earlier, in the previous regimes of the Left and Trinamool Congress, the government had imposed similar bans on private tuition by teachers.

In 2024, the Trinamool government had issued a circular to heads of government schools directing a similar ban on private tuition by teachers. The circular followed a petition by a section of private tutors who had alleged that their interests were being affected because of rampant private tuition by government school teachers.

But the ban orders in most cases hardly came into effect and remained on paper. Private tuition by government school continued to flourish because of lack of proper monitoring, a headmaster of a government school in Kolkata said.

Also read: Delhi Police Registers FIR Over Cyber Attacks on CBSE Post-Results Portal