A section of college teachers has written to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, appealing to her to defer the State Eligibility Test (SET) scheduled to be conducted on January 9 to a more suitable date following the spike in cases that has triggered closure of campuses from Monday.
The college service commission will conduct the test on Sunday at 189 centres in 68 sub-divisions across the state for the appointment of assistant professors and 83,000-odd candidates are likely to write the tests.
Education minister Bratya Basu who has also been approached by the West Bengal Government College Teachers’ Association, said although they have yet to defer the test, they are keeping a close watch on the situation.
“Many of the aspirants are possibly either now infected with coronavirus or are undergoing quarantine because a family member has been infected or are living within containment zones that are cropping up in various localities across the state. Conducting the examination at such a juncture will therefore mean that many of the candidates will not be able to appear for the examination as planned,” says the letter signed by Debasish Sarkar, the general secretary of the association.
According to the teachers, such an examination will require congregation of hundreds of people within the premises of different examination centers which will violate the spirit of the restrictions laid down in the government order issued on January 2.
“We would earnestly request you to kindly defer the test to a more suitable date, keeping in mind the safety and well-being of the candidates, staff members associated with the examination process…..,” says the letter.
Bratya Basu told Metro in a text message: “Till now we have not taken any decision on deferring the test. The test is going to be held with the concurrence of the chief minister. Though we are following the situation closely. We have to discuss (it) with her again”.
Last month the commission had announced a slew of measures so that the exam could be carried out following all the safety protocols.
Sarkar, who is also a principal of Chandernagore College, said since many of the infected persons are asymptomatic, it is quite possible that despite the protocols that are being insisted upon, some infected candidate will appear for the exam and thus expose fellow candidates and staff at the centres to the virus.