Kolkata, 09 November (H.S.) : In a major development, new admissions have been halted in 205 Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) colleges across West Bengal, bringing the teacher recruitment process in these institutes to a complete standstill. Challenging this decision by the state government and the university, 57 affected colleges have knocked on the doors of the Calcutta High Court. The matter is likely to come up for a hearing on Tuesday. The petitioning colleges have alleged in the court that an arbitrary decree halting the admission process was issued without serving them a detailed notice or citing specific reasons for their alleged shortcomings.

According to available information, the Baba Saheb Ambedkar Education University recently published a list of colleges found ineligible for affiliation renewal for the 2026-27 academic session. The notification issued by the university stated that the 205 colleges named in the list failed to meet the infrastructural and administrative standards set by the government, leading to the non-renewal of their affiliation. As per the new directives, these colleges will not be permitted to enroll any new students for the B.Ed course for the 2026-28 session. The administration, however, clarified that these institutes could prove their eligibility again for the 2027-29 session after rectifying their infrastructural deficiencies and shortage of teaching staff.

Earlier, the state Higher Education Minister had issued a stern message asserting that the commercialization of education would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Aiming to maintain the quality of education, the Department of Higher Education and Technical Education initiated rigorous inspections of B.Ed, ITI, Polytechnic, and Pharma colleges across the state. In the first phase, 156 B.Ed colleges were granted direct permission for admissions, while 415 lagging institutes were served notices with a 21-day deadline to upgrade their infrastructure. Nine of these colleges reportedly did not respond to the notice.

Subsequently, a new inspection team was dispatched for the second phase of verification, during which 237 colleges met the required criteria and were granted permission to admit students from November 4. However, during the final scrutiny, the remaining 205 colleges failed to fulfill the mandatory standards, prompting the authorities to take strict action against them. Meanwhile, the colleges that have approached the High Court claimed a complete lack of transparency in the state government's inspection process. They alleged that the admissions were abruptly halted without providing detailed information about their specific deficiencies, thereby creating a severe crisis for thousands of prospective students and the teaching staff employed there.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh