SOUMITRA NANDI, MP, 20 May 2024, Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has decided to involve college teachers in a ‘cluster model’ for teaching students at the higher secondary level in the backdrop of acute scarcity of teachers in various subjects.
The Council has already got the nod of the state Higher Education department in this regard.
“We are encouraging cluster models for the benefit of students in the higher secondary level. If a particular school suffers from lack of teachers in a particular subject, teachers from a neighbouring school can be roped in for teaching the subject concerned in a cluster model.
We have also made plans to rope in college teachers for addressing the same issue. However, the concerned teacher should be a permanent teacher,” said Chiranjib Bhattacharjee, president of WBCHSE.
The concerned teacher can go to the neighbouring school for taking classes or students of three-four schools can be brought together
in a common venue for the subject teacher to take classes. The same will be applicable for college teachers who will join this model.
According to sources in the Council, the dearth of teachers in various subjects has turned so precarious that secondary teachers of a particular subject have to teach the same subject at the higher secondary level.
In remote areas, even part time teachers are being roped in for plugging the gap. The Council is hopeful that the cluster concept will streamline this issue of teacher paucity to a reasonable extent.
A Council official attributed this to the recruitment process remaining stalled for more than five years due to legal logjam and retirement of teachers every year in due course with attainment of age limit.
The Council has introduced the semester system that will come into effect from 2024-25 for the students of class XI, while for class XII, it will be effective from 2025-26.
The Council has introduced courses in data science, artificial intelligence, cyber security, science of well-being and application of artificial intelligence in recent times to make the plus-II curriculum up to date.
https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/higher-secondary-council-trying-to-rope-in-college-teachers-in-cluster-model-564626