Opposition fumes as West Bengal bars teachers from politics

The Opposition Trinamool Congress and Left have slammed the Suvendu Adhikari Government for deciding to bar newly appointed school teachers from active politics.

In a remark, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh on Friday said the BJP Government was gradually baring its fangs against intellectuals and civil society, “The banning of the teachers from taking part in active politics is the first step towards that direction.”

The Left too slammed the BJP Government, reminding that former Presidents of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Pranab Mukherjee, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and even Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were teachers.

“As teachers are an educated community and as the BJP lacks such a class of people in their ranks, they want to debar the teachers from taking part in politics and today it will be teachers, tomorrow it will be lawyers and day after that it will be other professionals, and in the end only illiterate blinkered-eyed people will be allowed to be in politics,” said CPI(M)’s Shatarup Ghosh.

The strong remarks from the Opposition parties came soon after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that the newly appointed teachers would henceforth not be allowed to take part in politics.

“Teachers in no other State are directly involved in the politics. Go to Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, you will not find any teachers taking part in active politics, and we should follow that example. Teachers should be involved in nation building by preparing the young minds instead of going to rallies, so we have decided that teachers in West Bengal will no longer be allowed to participate directly in politics,” Adhikari said, adding, “The teachers getting appointment through SSC will not be allowed to contest panchayat, municipal, Assembly or Lok Sabha elections in the coming days. They will also not engage directly in politics like other Government servants.”

Subsequently, School Education Minister Dipak Barman said the State Cabinet had taken a decision and, accordingly, “The Government will soon frame rules to bar teachers, who will be recruited through the School Service Commission in future, from engaging in political activities.”

He, however, said that the new rule would not apply to the senior teachers who had already been working. “Only the recruits and not the ones who were already working will be barred from political activities,” he said.

He also said the Government was considering introducing a teacher accountability system in primary schools from the next academic year. “In such a system, the teachers’ performance will be linked to annual increments and promotions,” he said.

The Opposition leaders, like Kunal Ghosh, wondered: if they have banned teachers from taking part in elections, then how would they explain the teachers representing the teachers’ community in MLC elections?