Schoolteacher recruitment a priority: Edu minister

Kolkata: Dipak Barman, the new school education minister, has focused on teacher recruitment as his primary objective. From syllabus revamps to restoring the past glory of state-run schools, every aspect will be transformed but it will take some time as he does not have Aladdin’s magic lamp, the minister said.

When questioned by the media regarding teacher recruitment, he said: “We will definitely conduct teacher recruitment drive shortly. We are well aware that several teaching positions are currently vacant and need to be filled.”

In the past few years, the school education department has faced multiple challenges, ranging from recruitment hurdles to a cash-for-jobs scam that resulted in the imprisonment of former education minister Partha Chatterjee. Furthermore, around 26,000 teachers and staffers from the 2016 recruitment panel lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order due to a corrupt recruitment process.

When questioned on the matter, Barman said: “I feel that I have been given the easiest department to run because, considering the way the previous govt maligned this department, no one could do worse. I believe the most difficult task now is to regain public trust. People no longer believe that jobs are given based on merit; they have stopped believing that teachers want to build a new generation with honesty and courage. Students have forgotten that education is the ultimate pathway to establishing oneself in society. Our biggest challenge is to regain this trust.”

A fresh recruitment process had been started by the previous govt, but the administration changed midway through the process. Although he did not want to be specific, he hinted that the recruitment process would be expedited.