Per secondary student grant by Bengal govt raises eyebrows

Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS) West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) on Saturday issued a notification for grants to the students appearing for secondary examination, wherein the per-student amount has raised eyebrows.

As per the notification issued by WBBSE, around Rs 1 crore will be spent from the state-exchequer. Considering that around 10 lakh aspirants will be appearing for the secondary board examination next year, the per-student cost comes to just Rs 10.

As per the notification, the schools spent a substantial amount for preparation of their students for their first main examination and the state school education department wants to share a portion of the financial responsibility.

Academic circles believe that such announcement is a joke with the secondary education system and it would have been better had the board not announced any grant for that purpose. 

Some of them had drawn the reference of the state government spending as high as high as Rs 350 crore in this year for donations, power subsidies and state government advertisements, which is 57 per cent of the total cost of the Chandrayaan-2 expedition at Rs 615 crore.

According to the State Secretary of Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses Chandan Maiti, the proposal from the board is nothing but a joke. “Not even a regular-size bottle of mineral water will be available at Rs 10,” he said.

However, the board officials claim that it would be unfair to view the proposal from the angle of per-student amount. “Rather it should be viewed from a per-school angle,” a board official said.