Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the school education department would inspect 200 informal schools, where education was imparted through Rajbanshi language, to find out whether those could be converted into formal schools.

“We received requests from various corners to convert these schools into formal ones. The school education department would carry out inspections at these schools,” said the chief minister after a cabinet meeting at Nabanna on Tuesday.

Sources said those schools were located in some districts in north Bengal and the state cabinet had agreed to allow inspections at the schools accepting the local demands.

In north Bengal, Rajbanshis form a considerable portion of the population. For years now, the demand to introduce the Rajbanshi language as a medium of instruction in primary classes has been raised by the community.

“There were reports that a number of informal schools have been opened by some Rajbanshi organisations. It seems the state intends to regularise these institutions now,” said an observer.

Mamata also said that there were requests to carry out inspections at some informal schools where education is imparted through Kamtapuri language. “But they are yet to fix a curriculum like the Rajbanshi informal schools already did. The education department would carry out inspections at two such schools within a year as it would take a few months to prepare the curriculum,” she added.

Kamtapuri is a variant of the Rajbanshi language and in north Bengal, a section of the Rajbanshi community introduces themselves as Kamtapuri.

This has made the state announce separate language academies — even though both are believed to be the same language — and allot funds to these bodies and instruct the office-bearers to prepare syllabus and schoolbooks so that the languages could be introduced at primary schools.

The chief minister has further taken the initiative to name the university of Cooch Behar in the name of Panchanan Burma, the most revered statesman of Rajbanshis, announce a second campus of the varsity in his name and renovation of his ancestral house.

Land for ONGC

The state cabinet also approved a proposal to hand over 13.49 acres of land at Ashoknagar in North 24-Parganas to the ONGC as the utility has found an oil reserve.

“They (ONGC) wanted to pay Rs 6.5 crore for the land. But we are giving the land at Re 1 as it would serve the state’s interest. I will pay Re 1 on behalf of the agency,” said the chief minister.

The state cabinet on Tuesday also agreed to give clearance to 28 leather units to function at the Bantala Leather Complex. Moreover, the cabinet agreed to the proposal of regularising more than 230 refugee colonies set up on central government or private land.

“We have already regularised 94 such colonies set up on state government land and the residents have been given free hold land rights,” Mamata said.

“Remaining colonies set up on either central government land or private land would also be regularised. Work is on to regularise 119 colonies on central government or private land. The rest would be taken up soon,” added the chief minister.