Kolkata, April 27 -- The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) has announced plans to introduce centralised interviews for the recruitment of teachers at private D.El.Ed colleges within its jurisdiction.

Goutam Pal, president of WBBPE, stated: "We will conduct centralised interviews for the recruitment of faculty in D.El.Ed colleges. A selection committee will be set up for this purpose." The board president or his nominee will chair the selection committee, which will also include the college principal or chairman (or their representative) and a subject expert. In the case of interviews for women and reserved category candidates, representatives from these groups will also be involved.

"Colleges will now send applicants to us and the committee will interview and select candidates. The final list will then be sent back to the colleges for appointment," Pal explained, adding that a detailed notification would be issued shortly.

At present, around 600 self-financing D.El.Ed colleges operate under the board. Until now, these colleges handled their own recruitment processes, seeking the board's approval only at a later stage. However, Pal acknowledged that this system had often led to accusations of favouritism, with more deserving candidates being overlooked.

"In many instances, qualified candidates were rejected, and colleges submitted the names of their preferred choices. We frequently received complaints from candidates who felt wronged. This new system is designed to ensure a fairer process," Pal said.

Under the revised procedure, colleges will advertise vacancies, collect applications, and send the list to WBBPE. The board's selection committee will then conduct the interviews.

However, colleges that have already begun their hiring processes are uncertain about how to proceed. "We've heard about the new procedure, but we have yet to receive any formal communication. We've sent an email seeking clarification, as we need to recruit teachers for a new Hindi-medium programme," said Abdul Kalam, secretary of North Bengal Teachers' Training College.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.