West Bengal Education Council Head Mahua Das Removed From Her Post

Mahua Das Removed: Mahua Das has been removed from the post of Speaker of the Education Parliament in West Bengal. The new president will be Chiranjeev Bhattacharya.

Mahua Das was the chief of the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education (WBCHSE), received severe criticism for mentioning the religion of the girl student who topped the state’s higher secondary examinations. Announcing the results on July 23, she said, “The highest marks obtained this year is 499. A Muslim girl secured the marks. She is a Muslim lady from Murshidabad.”

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Madhyamik Exam 2021 (Class 10) and Higher Secondary examinations (Class 12) were not conducted as usual this year. Thus, there was no merit list. Students were marked through an alternative assessment system without formal written examinations. However, the mention of religion during the results sparked a row. It did not go down well with several political groups and organisations in the state. It is being said that Das may be removed due to this controversy. However, no official reason has been given for the removal.

A year before in 2020, before the higher secondary examination, Das had said strict actions would be taken against people circulating purported images of question papers on social media via WhatsApp groups.

Chiranjeev Bhattacharya who held the position of Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University has been appointed as the permanent president by the school education department for four years. It is learned that Mahua Das has been directed to hand over the responsibility to Bhattacharya as soon as possible.

Bhattacharya is likely to take over the new charge on Monday. He thanked Education Minister Bratya Basu for the new responsibility. When Jadavpur University was abuzz with student protests, Chiranjeev Bhattacharya was made vice-chancellor.

Mahua Das was appointed as the president of WBCHSE in 2013. Das was earlier the principal of Women’s College in Bagbazar. She took charge along with the new secretary of the council, Prof Subrata Ghosh, commerce faculty of City College (North).