Campus check for excess HS intake: Council plan to ensure adequate infrastructure to teach more students

The state higher secondary council has announced that all the government and aided schools who want to admit “excess students in addition to 400 students” should contact the council’s regional office for a physical inspection of the institution.

The physical inspection is a must so it can be ascertained whether the schools have the required infrastructure to teach the excess students.

A notice signed by the council president said: “All the institutions intending to admit excess students in addition to 400 students should contact the concerned regional office for a physical inspection of the institution. The inspection report should be submitted along with the online application”.

Till last year, the council would not ask for a physical inspection for admission of extra students beyond 300, which was the approved limit then.

But many schools don’t have adequate classrooms, laboratories and teachers, and this is coming in the way of conducting classes properly, said a council official.

The council this year has raised the approved limit of admitting students to 400 based on recommendations of the local MLA/MP or District Inspector (Secondary).

“But admission beyond 400 will be subject to physical inspection because the council cannot allow random admissions in schools that lack the requisite infrastructure,” said council president Chiranjeeb Bhattacharya.

“We found that many schools last year admitted 600 and even 700 students, going beyond the approved limit when the council did not ask for any physical inspection. But this random admission has posed challenges,” he said.

Asked why the recommendation from the local MLA/MP was introduced this year, Bhattacharya said: “Initially, we left it to the district inspectors of secondary levels. But as the DIs have been assigned election duties, the schools are finding it
difficult to contact them for recommendations.”

Of the 9,12,598 Madhay-mik candidates this year, 7,65,252 students passed the exams.

The overall pass percentage was 86.31, a small improvement from last year’s 86.15.

The number of Madhyamik examinees increased by over 3 lakh compared to last year.

“More candidates have passed Madhyamik this year, triggering a spike in the number of candidates seeking enrolment in Class XI. So, the schools are appealing for admissions beyond the approved limit,” said a council official.

Swapan Mandal, general secretary of the Bengal Teachers’ and Employees’ Association, said: “Schools are struggling to hold classes even for their own students who have taken admission in Class XI because of the absence of teachers. How did the council raise the cap despite knowing this?”

He said the absence of teachers in plus-II triggered such a crisis that the coun-
cil in mid-May had to finalise a plan for neighbouring schools to share teaching staff to tide over the scarcity of teachers.

Under this model, a school that does not have a teacher for a specific subject will engage a teacher for the subject from a nearby school.