On march 8, 24-year-old Kaushik Das decided that there was no hope left in his life. He was despondent about not being able to chalk out a teaching career for himself, despite having studied for a diploma — in 2005-06 — at Jamini Nandy Primary Teacher’s Training Institute (PTTI) in North 24-Parganas district. He hanged himself in his home after struggling against the Calcutta High Court order that decreed certificates issued by 122 PTTIs in Bengal were “invalid”.

Kaushik is not the first casualty of this ruling. The fate of at least 70,000 PTTI students had been hanging in the balance since 2006 in the state. The crisis hit the students when the Calcutta High Court, in response to a Public Interest Litigation, declared that these certificates were worthless since the PTTIs were functioning without adhering to the guidelines of the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE).

As the crisis deepened and there was no solution in sight, several students committed suicide, the latest being Kaushik. Hunger strikes and street agitations did not change the status quo. “He lost hope after the verdict. Although he took part in a number of rallies and meetings, he felt he couldn’t support his family,” said Subhankar Biswas, who was a fellow student at Jamini Nandy PTTI.

At the root of the problem was the Left Front government’s sanction that allowed private PTTIs to operate without adhering to NCTE norms until the time the court intervened.

Initially, the PTTIs were run by the state government, but from 2002 onwards the sector was opened to private players. But a distinct pattern soon emerged — an overwhelming majority of these institutes belonged to CPI(M) supporters and leaders. Officials said that as many as 350 applications were received by the state government for PTTI affiliation once the sector was opened to private players. But only about 75 or so, mostly those with links to the party, were given affiliations. Those who were not went to court and got the process stalled.

... contd.