With the BJP expanding its base fast in Bengal, the State Government is “seriously considering measures to put a leash on the mushrooming RSS-run schools stoking communalism among school students in the State.”
State Education Minister Partho Chatterjee said the Government has asked the district collectors to keep an eye on the activities of such schools functioning mainly in districts bordering Bangladesh, North Bengal and western part of the State. “Though not much of these schools have come up during our regime we are considering strict measures against these schools,” said he, adding the Government will also enquire into the irregularities that might have occurred in giving no objection certificates to these schools.
The departments concerned have been asked by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to de-recognise schools which are promoting communal mindset among the students, said Chatterjee, adding already a few such schools have been issued notices to explain their status and activity.
“These schools must stop communal activities or else they will be shut down as the Government will not tolerate such activities” the Minister said.
Chatterjee’s warning apart, most of the RSS-run schools have come up in the State during the Trinamool Congress regime, allege CPI(M) legislature Party leader Sujan Chakrabarty.
A Sangh pracharak from South 24 Parganas confirmed Chakrabarty’s statement said, “All most all our schools received affiliation after the Trinamool Government came to power in 2011.”
Run by Vivekananda Vidyavikash Parishad — subsidiary of Vidya Bharti Akhil Bharatiya Siksha Sansthan, an RSS-affiliated organisation — with a “declared agenda of instilling Hindu mindset among the school students” more than 300 such educational institutions are currently functioning in the State, sources said.