Kolkata: The West Bengal government will soon frame rules to implement a cabinet decision to bar teachers, who will be recruited through the School Service Commission in future, from engaging in political activities, a minister said.
School Education Minister Dipak Barman said such a decision was taken at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday to bring West Bengal in line with several other states where similar restrictions are in place.
The decision will not be applicable to those who are currently in service, he said.
"Those who will be recruited as teachers through West Bengal School Service Commission exams will come under the proposed rules prohibiting political activities. This is already in practice in several other states. Necessary rules to this effect will be framed in the near future," Barman said on Thursday.
After the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the council of ministers had decided that teachers recruited through future West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) appointments would not be allowed to participate directly in politics or contest elections.
He said the restriction would apply only to future recruits and would not cover teachers already in service, including those holding elected positions in panchayats and municipalities.
"Teachers in no other state of the country are directly involved in politics. Seeing the examples of states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, we have decided that teachers in West Bengal will also no longer be allowed to participate directly in politics," the CM had said.
"Those appointed through the SSC in the coming days will not be allowed to contest panchayat, municipal, assembly or Lok Sabha elections, or engage directly in politics," he had said.
Asked whether the BJP will have a teachers' cell in the state, Barman said, "We will discuss the issue."
The school education minister was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting at the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education building here to discuss administrative, infrastructural and academic issues.
The meeting was attended by chairpersons of primary education councils from 21 districts and heads of the state's primary and secondary education boards and the higher secondary education council.
Barman said the government was considering introducing a teacher accountability system in primary schools from the next academic year, under which teachers' performance could be linked to annual increments and promotions.
Explaining the proposed mechanism, he said teachers would have to account for the learning outcomes of students.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.