The Union’s education minister, Subhas Sarkar, questioned Friday why schools in West Bengal have been given a long summer break from the government this year by bringing forward the closing date when offline classes are held in states where heat wave conditions are worse. The states where the weather is hotter have so far not declared a summer vacation, he told reporters here.
“The heat wave conditions are more acute in many other states, but they have not taken a step like Bengal. So why are the schools closed for so long from 2 May to mid-June for the summer holidays?” he said to a question. However, Sarkar, who was asked earlier this week by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to comment on the run-up to the summer holidays in schools, clarified that the state has the privilege of deciding on the matter.
The union minister also said that what he had said on the matter was his own opinion. Schools in Bengal reopened in mid-February this year after nearly two years due to the COVID pandemic. They were briefly opened for the upper classes in November 2021, but were closed again due to the third wave of contamination. Asked to comment on West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar’s allegations that the vice chancellors of state universities will not attend the meeting convened by him as the chancellor of state universities, Sarkar said it was unfortunate.
“I will have to get information about reports that the VCs are not attending meetings called by the governor, I will have to know in detail,” he added. Speaking of the recent controversy over Visva Bharati University, where the unnatural death of a student sparked excitement among students, Sarkar said, “There is politics in every issue of the central university. This cannot be accepted. We are concerned about Visva Bharati.
“We do not want the heritage of the university founded by Tagore to be affected in any way,” he added. The union minister said that almost all states are evaluating the new education policy, 2020, which is holistic and liberal in nature.
“Let West Bengal be associated with NEP 2020 or we will be behind. The claim that it focuses on saffronization is false, as is the idea that it will aid in the privatization of the education sector,” he added.
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