Latest news with #BratyaBasu
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Bill tabled for sports univ, BJP MLAs walk out
Kolkata: BJP MLAs staged a walkout at the state assembly on Friday following a 20-minute argument after higher education minister Bratya Basu tabled the Netaji Subhas University of Sports and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2025. The walkout notwithstanding, a discussion was held, in which it was said the Bill was tabled to set up Netaji Subhas University of Sports and Entrepreneurship in Chinsurah and to give it status of a private university, promoted by Chinsurah Netaji Welfare Trust. Trouble broke out as BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh rose to speak reportedly on the Bill, Trinamool MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, demanded to know why they should listen to him when BJP MLAs had walked out during a discussion on West Bengal Sales Tax (Settlement of Dispute) (Amendment) Bill, 2025 on Thursday. An argument broke out and BJP MLAs walked out. Ghosh later alleged, "Trinamool did not let me speak." Speaker Biman Banerjee said, "It is not desirable that a member will leave. The Opposition tried to speak, but they did not say anything on the Bill... ."
Time of India
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
West Bengal denies Centre's outreach on common board, calls move unnecessary for high-performing state
KOLKATA: West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Thursday said he is yet to receive any communication from the Union Ministry of Education, which has recommended seven states to adopt a common board for classes 10 and 12 after an analysis flagged that they accounted for 66 per cent of student failures last year. Speaking to reporters, Basu said students of the West Bengal boards always perform well, and the class 10 and 12 final examinations conducted by them record a high pass percentage. "We are yet to hear anything about this from the Centre. However, whatever I read in the press, the issue is not relevant to our state. Except for the COVID period, the pass percentage of candidates appearing in both secondary and higher secondary exams in West Bengal has been high," he said. The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education conducts the Madhyamik examination for class 10, while the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education conducts the class 12 final examinations. This year, 86.56 per cent out of the total 9,69,425 candidates cleared the Madhaymik examination, while 90.79 per cent of 4,82,948 candidates cleared the class 12 exams. PTI had reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Education has recommended seven states to adopt a common board for classes 10 and 12 after an analysis by the School Education Department found they accounted for 66 per cent of student failures last year. The seven states are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal. There are a total of 66 school examination boards in the country -- three national-level boards and 63 state-level boards (54 regular and 12 open boards). While the top 33 boards cover 97 per cent of students, the remaining 33 boards cover just 3 per cent of students. "Common board for classes 10 and 12 is the way forward for ease of schooling. Not having a common board leads to poor academic outcomes. We have recommended these states to adopt a common board," School Education Secretary Sanjay Kumar said. Is your child ready for the careers of tomorrow? Enroll now and take advantage of our early bird offer! Spaces are limited.
Time of India
a day ago
- General
- Time of India
Given 25 options, candidates take 5 on an avg on UG admission portal
1 2 Kolkata: Every undergraduate candidate is opting for four to five options, including subjects and colleges, from 25 available choices at 460-odd institutes in Bengal, shows data from Centralised Admission Portal in the first two days. The portal, which opened at 10 am on Wednesday, received over 2.8 lakh applications and over 60,000 registrations till Thursday evening. "On the second day, by 6 pm, 61,155 students registered on the centralized online portal... and submitted 2,85,497 applications. Among the registered students, 374 are residents of other states," education minister Bratya Basu posted on X. Candidates this year are following a different approach than that last year. In the initial round, students are being allowed to secure only 10 course preferences at one go. The system will subsequently display the 15 other options one by one. Students are to confirm each choice by selecting 'Yes' before proceeding to the next one. . A higher education official said, "We had hoped for a higher number of applications in the first few days as students eagerly waited for the portal to open. But it's found that students are opting for four-five choices at a time, though they can click on more. The number may go up later on." But principals don't seem alarmed by the supposed fewer choices. Lady Brabourne College principal Siuli Sarkar said, "It is natural for students to opt for four to five choices. Their focused preferences reflect their vision. Since students nowadays are mature and this time, they got more than sufficient time to research about choices of subjects and colleges, I feel it is a conscious decision to limit their applications to four to five. " A south Kolkata College principal felt providing 25 choices was "way too much". "Applying for four-five choices is fine. Students focused on subjects and institutes often keep their choices limited," the principal said. But Surendranath College principal Indranil Kar advised candidates to apply to at least eight to 10 institutes. "As the competition is tough, I would suggest candidates to apply to at least eight to 10 colleges to be on the safe side. It will ensure admission to at least one. We often find a student fails to secure any seat as he or she applies to a limited number of places, say three or four." Statistics from the 2024 UG admission data indicated most selected 10-15 course combinations or less.
Time of India
2 days ago
- General
- Time of India
In 1st 8 hrs, UG entry portal gets 72k appls from 28k students
1 2 3 Kolkata: The centralised admission portal for undergraduate admissions received 71,949 applications from 28,443 students by 6 pm on Wednesday. However, some parents and students complained about not being able to access the portal and other technical glitches, such as difficulties in registering themselves and problem in generating the one-time password (OTP) to create their student profiles. Education minister Bratya Basu posted on his X handle, "As on 6 pm today, 28,443 students have registered on the centralised online portal of the Higher Education Department. They have submitted a total of 71,949 applications. Notably, among the registered students, 251 are from other states." Under the admission portal, an applicant can apply for a maximum of 25 programmes/courses in one or multiple higher educational institutions across the state. The centralised admission portal started functioning from 10 am on Wednesday. A higher education department official said, "The portal functioned smoothly, and the response was good — 3,508 applicants registered by 11 am, an hour after the opening of the portal. The portal also logged over 3 lakh unique visitors on the first day, which increased from last year. The department received some calls from applicants, and we addressed their issues, but the issues were not severe. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Hausbesitzer jubeln! Wer Heute noch ohne Solar lebt sollte nun die Lauscher aufsperren. Solar Nachrichten Aktuell Mehr erfahren Undo " A source pointed out that 3,382 students used the newly introduced chatbot 'Bina' to navigate through the process and answer their queries on a real-time basis. Rishabh Banerjee faced difficulty accessing the portal since 10 am and was finally able to register himself around 3 pm. "I was trying since 10.30 am. It was buffering. After the site opened, I read the instructions and went to the registration page. Navigating from one page to another was taking a lot of time. After filling in all the details, when I was going to submit, it started buffering, and an error message with 'site not live' appeared on the screen. I tried multiple times and was able to register around 3 pm," said Rishabh. Another student, Ritwik Saha, said, "I faced problem in getting the OTP on email. While I got an OTP on the phone, I had issues getting OTP on email. Later, the OTP that was supposed to be sent to email was sent to my phone number. After that, I was able to register and fill up forms and choose courses and colleges. It was smooth." City colleges are satisfied after the proceedings on first day. Asutosh College principal Manas Kabi said, "Till 4.30 pm, we received 1,397 applications, which is quite good." Lady Brabourne College principal Siuli Sarkar said, "The portal opened at 10 am. Initially, the pace was slow, but as the day progressed, it became smooth. We received 526 applications till 4.30 pm." Maulana Azad College principal Krishnendu Dutta said, "We received 726 applications till 4.30 pm, which is satisfactory." Principal of New Alipore College Jaydeep Sarangi said they received 275 applications till 5 pm.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
JU students gherao pro-VC, hit key meet for UG admission
1 2 3 K olkata: Jadavpur University could not open its undergraduate admission portal on Wednesday as the authorities are taking legal opinion on the OBC reservation-related issue. This follows the high court's stay on the gazette notification, which included 140 subgroups in the new OBC list, of which 80 are Muslims, till July 3. Sources said officials of JU had an appointment with the lawyer on Wednesday evening for advice on the OBC issue, but due to students' protest, the appointment was postponed. JU was scheduled to open its portal on Wednesday. "The students gheraoed the pro-VC and were agitating against the university's granting of Rs 14 lakh to Trinamool Shiksha Bandhu Samiti for renovating their office, which was damaged in a fire on March 1, when education minister Bratya Basu visited the JU campus. The protest went to such an extent that at one point, the pro-VC expressed his desire to quit," said a source. A teacher said, "The scheduled appointment with the lawyer could not happen because of the students' agitation. The officials will visit a lawyer to take legal opinion on Thursday." A student said, "When the university is reeling under an acute funds crunch, on what grounds did the authority sanction such a huge amount for renovation?"
