‘Notification to recruit heads of institutions set to be issued soon’

Kolkata: The state government will soon come up with a notification for the recruitment of heads of institutions in state and state-aided schools across Bengal.

A high-level meeting on the issue was held at Bikash Bhavan on Friday.

According to sources in the Education department, the total vacancies for headmasters and headmistresses in schools stand at around 4500.

Chairman of West Bengal Central School Service Commission Siddhartha Majumdar said that the Commission will start preparations for examining head of institutions (HOIs) recruitment as soon as the state government publishes notification for HOIs recruitment.

In the year 2017, the notification for HOIs recruitment was brought out and recruitment was made in 2019 following which there were allegations of corruption and favouritism in the process.

Chandan Maity, general secretary of the Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistress welcomed the move and said that steps should be taken to fill up the vacant teaching posts that will emerge after recruitment of HOIs to maintain education standards.

According to sources, the state government is bringing some significant changes in the pattern of recruitment for transparency. There will be a reservation in recruitment. OMR sheets will be used during the examination.

A carbon copy of the answer sheets will be provided to the examinees. The final results will be published considering performance in the written test as well as educational qualifications.

“It has been almost six years since no recruitment of HOIs has happened in the state. 30 to 40 per cent of the schools do not have full-time HOIs,“ Swapan Mondal, general secretary of Bangiya Sikhak of Sikhakarmi Samity said.

According to the headmaster of a school in South Kolkata, many schools do not have HOIs, leading to problems in smooth functioning. “So, the move by the state government is very much welcome,“ he remarked.