Kolkata, February 14 (IANS). Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said that West Bengal has suffered a loss of Rs 10,000 crore of central funds due to non-implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in the state.
Dharmendra Pradhan, while addressing the teachers’ conference organized by the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kolkata on Saturday, said that despite repeated requests, the state government did not implement the National Education Policy in West Bengal. The National Education Policy talks about education in the mother tongue, and in West Bengal it should have been Bengali. The West Bengal government does not want to allow education in Bengali. If the National Education Policy had been implemented, additional funds would have been given to West Bengal under the Samagra Shiksha Mission.
The Union Minister also alleged that the West Bengal government refused to accept the additional funds proposed by the Central Government for Jadavpur University.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Education Minister presented various statistics to argue that the education system of West Bengal has declined during the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government.
According to him, in West Bengal, about 50 percent of the total schools in the country are such schools where there is not even a single teacher. Pradhan said that West Bengal has the highest number of teacher-less schools in the country. The number is about 4,000, which is about 50 percent of the national average.
He also criticized the West Bengal government over the lack of internet access in government schools. He said that internet penetration in government schools in West Bengal is only 16 percent, while the national average is 70 percent. If BJP comes to power in West Bengal after the 2026 assembly elections, the education sector will be a major focus area.
–IANS
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