– Mita Mukherjee

The state government will not issue no-objection certificates (NOC) to private educational institutions in the state for the next two years and it will conduct extensive inspection of the existing private institutions to see whether they have proper infrastructure facilities to continue to operate in future, the Bengal government said on Monday.

After attending a meeting at Bikash Bhavan, that houses the state education departments, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said the government plans to ensure that NOCs are issued to existing institutions only if the government finds that the institutions are running in compliance with the prescribed standards set by the government and other education agencies.

The entire exercise is aimed at curbing the commoditization of education, he said.

“The overall infrastructure of the institutes will be assessed. They will be allowed to function only if the facilities and fees structure are appropriate. Only then the NOCs will be issued. Our aim is to ensure that education does not become a commodity. We want to upgrade our education system in such a way that students do not have to depend on private education,” Adhikari said.

Junior Union education minister Sukanta Majumdar who also attended the meeting later said that the chief minister has said that NOCs will not be issued for setting up new private institutions for the next two years.

Officials from Delhi and Bengal school and higher education ministers too attended the meeting and discussions were held on how to strengthen the government education system and how the state and the Central government could work together to achieve the targets.

The government’s decision to check further growth of private institutions comes amid complaints that various private colleges offering engineering, management and legal education in the state had been providing poor quality education even though they charged high fees from parents. In many cases, the institutes charged high fees promising good jobs on completion of the courses. But in many cases, they failed to provide the jobs.

The chief minister said the state government has linked Bengal to NEP and Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India scheme and the funds under the schemes for the state are expected to be released very soon.

Union minister Majumdar said with the formation of the double-engine government, a move is on to elevate the state’s education system to a national level.

He further said that a move is on to upgrade the Indian Institute of Science Engineering and Technology (IIEST) Shibpur, erstwhile known as B.E. College to an IIT. The Bengal government will soon send a proposal to the Centre in this regard.

A proposal for the ‘Institute of Eminence’ tag for Jadavpur University has been sent to the Centre.

The chief minister also announced that mid-day meals in state-aided schools in Kolkata Municipal Corporation will become vegetarian from August 1. From the same day Iskon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) will take charge of mid-day meals under the KMC schools.

Though the move to serve only vegetarian food in mid-day meals drew criticism from the Opposition, the chief minister has assured that nutritious food will be served to the children.

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