Kolkata, 4 December (H.S.): The political controversy surrounding West Bengal's education system has once again intensified. Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, made serious allegations against the Mamata Banerjee government in a detailed post on Twitter on Thursday. He stated that despite education being free, the state government is attempting to extort money from students through various means.

Suvendu Adhikari, citing a recent notification from the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education, stated that students must pay the prescribed fees upon enrolling for the 2026 Higher Secondary Examination. Furthermore, a separate 'center fee' has been directed to be collected from candidates, which he described as completely wrong and illegal.

Adhikari claimed that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, launched by the central Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and later merged into the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, clearly ensures free and compulsory education for all students from pre-primary to grade 12. Consequently, he raised serious questions about the state government's objective of charging fees.

In his post, Adhikari also criticized the poor state of the state's government school system. He alleged that thousands of government schools are on the verge of closure due to corruption in teacher recruitment, a severe shortage of teachers, crumbling infrastructure, and government apathy. He argued that the government's real objective is to force parents to send their children to private schools, thereby financially benefiting private educational institutions close to the ruling party.

He also quipped that businessmen associated with the ruling party, in order to appease Mamata Banerjee, sometimes organize events in foreign college canteens, advertising that the Chief Minister is being honored by Oxford, and sometimes arrange to purchase an honorary degree from a Japanese university. Suvendu alleged that all this is done solely to enhance his political image and raise large donations.

At the end of his post, Suvendu Adhikari demanded that this fee be immediately stopped from being charged to students. He also demanded that the full amount be immediately refunded to those who have already been charged. He termed this collection as completely illegal, unethical, and unfair.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey