Kolkata: The West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE) has launched career counselling videos to guide Class XI students in choosing subjects. However, the initiative comes at a time when state-run schools are grappling with a severe shortage of subject teachers and delays in the admission process.
Featuring expert advice from eminent teachers across Science, Commerce and Humanities, as well as special messages from the Council’s president and secretary, the videos, uploaded on the Council’s YouTube and Facebook pages, aim to help students and guardians select subject combinations aligned with future career aspirations.
However, the move comes as many schools, particularly in rural areas, struggle with an acute shortage of subject-specific teachers. Several institutions are unable to offer key subjects due to a lack of faculty, forcing students to select subjects based on availability rather than interest.
“Our school has no permanent Higher Secondary teachers,” said Pranay Mondal, headmaster of Kumirmari High School in the Sundarbans, South 24 Parganas. “Students want to study subjects like Political Science and Philosophy, but we don’t have teachers for those.” Education experts partly attribute the crisis to the state’s Utsashree portal, which has enabled a wave of teacher transfers from rural to urban areas. In response, WBCHSE president Chiranjib Bhattacharya said a stopgap measure is under consideration. “If a school lacks teachers for specific subjects, students may be allowed to attend classes in nearby schools that offer those subjects,” he stated. A formal circular is expected soon.
Meanwhile, admissions to Class XI in 39 government schools have been stalled. Although the application process ended on May 10 and merit lists were due on May 13, the state School Education department has halted the process, citing the ongoing court case concerning
OBC reservation.
Saugata Basu, general secretary of the West Bengal Govt. School Teachers’ Association warned that the delay is pushing students, especially those in the Science stream, towards Central boards like CBSE
and ISC.