Commerce has no future, say students

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 7 JUNE: A large section of students who passed Madhyamik examination do not want to study Commerce subjects at higher secondary level because they feel there is no future in that direction.

Students prefer to select Science and Art subjects, looking towards future prospects of employment.

The present trend of admission shows that a large section of students are selecting subjects aiming at the demands of the school service commission and its subject-wise recruitment.

They are aware that the school service commission does not recruit large numbers of teachers for Commerce subjects in the secondary and higher secondary schools.

This present trend has created a double problem in many secondary schools in Malda town. Some Higher Secondary schools, including AC Institution and Barlow Girls’ Higher Secondary School, are facing difficulties in running the Commerce section with their small number of students. On the other hand, it is difficult for them to accommodate the hundreds of students who have applied to study Science and Art.

In Barlow Girls’ HS School, only 23 girls applied for the commerce department. Similarly, only 17 students applied for the commerce department in AC Institution.

Interestingly, two teachers out of three, all of whom who were appointed as assistant teachers in additional posts in Barlow Girls’, have been waiting a long time to receive retention from the higher authorities.

Meanwhile, school authorities are facing a flood of students demanding admission into class XI, while capacity is often too low to accommodate them.

They are choosing students on the basis of merit, meaning some students are being turned away, even if they are from the local area of that school. There are simply not enough HS schools in the state.

Yesterday, for this reason, students turned violent at two Higher Secondary schools in Malda district: Naymouza HS School and UCBHU Vidyalaya in English Bazaar town.

They locked the main gate of the schools, ransacked several school properties and finally blocked National Highway 34.