Split education portfolio in Suvendu Adhikari govt aims to meet multiple goals

The Suvendu Adhikari government has appointed separate ministers for school and higher education, aiming to improve specialised oversight, budget management, policy formulation and administrative efficiency. The move revives a system previously followed under the Left Front government

Kolkata: The Suvendu Adhikari government’s decision to appoint two ministers separately for the school education and higher education departments in the recent portfolio distribution has been prompted by multiple goals, insiders from the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Thursday.

While journalist-turned-politician Jagannath Chattopadhyay has been made the state higher education minister, veteran BJP legislator Deepak Burman is the new school education minister.

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On one hand, two different ministers for two different departments related to education is contrary to the practice followed by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime, where there was one minister in overall charge of the entire education department. During the 15-year Trinamool Congress regime, two heavyweight party leaders handled the state education department in turns, first by Bratya Basu and then by Partha Chatterjee and then again by Bratya Basu.

The system of having two ministers for school education and higher education departments was followed by the previous Left Front regime. In 2011, which marked the end of the Left Front regime, while Partha De was the state school education minister, Dr Sudarshan Roy Choudhury was the state higher education minister.

An insider from the state committee of the BJP in West Bengal said the decision to revert to the old system of having two separate ministers for school education and higher education departments was done with four specific targets. “The first target is specialised attention: While the main goal of school education is to build the basic foundation of students, that of the higher secondary department is to develop research and work-oriented or professional skills. Since the natures of the two levels are completely different, individual ministers would be able to focus more minutely on their respective fields,” said the state committee member.

The second target, according to him, is proper planning and budgetary allocations for the departments since each level of education requires specific budgets and strategic plans. “Having a separate responsible minister for each of the two departments will be more effective in ensuring proper utilisation of the education budget and overseeing infrastructure development in each level,” the state committee member said.

The third aim, he added, is to ensure target-based policy formulation based on the specific requirements of the school education and higher education departments.

“Hence, having separate ministers in the two departments makes it easier to adopt specific and effective policies suitable for each level,” the state committee member said. The fourth and final aim is to ensure faster administrative decisions, considering that the complexities of handling the varied requirements and issues of the two departments are often difficult for a single minister to handle.

“Having two ministers separately for the two departments will automatically simplify the documentation and approval process, reducing administrative complexities and ensuring speedy decision-making,” said a member of the state committee.