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6th Arun Chowdhury Memorial Lecture
The 6th Arun Chowdhury
Memorial Lecture was organized on March 31, 2022 at Kolkata’s Sisir Mancha.
Held on Shri Arun Chowdhury’s 93rd birth anniversary, the sixth
lecture discussed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on West Bengal’s
education system and the ways forward.
The theme was “A case
for post-Covid Indian education: Assessment, Problems and Roadmaps for
Reconstruction”. The discussants included some of India’s and West Bengal’s
most well-known academics, school teachers, education and political activists.
They were: Rukmini Banerji of Pratham Education Foundation; Prof. Sukanta
Chaudhuri, Professor Emeritus, Jadavpur University, Kolkata; Shubhra Chatterji
of the Vikramshila Education Resource Society; Pulak Ray Chaudhuri
(educator-teacher); Tapan Pramanik (educator-teacher); Rubeya Khatun of the Para-Lekha
initiative, Birbhum, West Bengal and Dipsita Dhar of the Student Federation of
India (SFI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. The discussion was
moderated by Kumar Rana, formerly of the Pratichi India Trust, Kolkata; and Anirban
Chattopadhyay, former editor, Anandabazar Patrika.
The discussion delved
into the issues West Bengal’s education system has come to face due to the Covid-19
pandemic. The discussion concluded with the understanding that West Bengal’s
education system has been dealt a severe blow due to the pandemic and is in
requirement of a thorough, constructive and urgent reconstruction. This
reconstruction, while important, must prioritize the state’s primary education
sector, within the contexts of equity and socio-economic justice.
The particularly
adverse impact West Bengal’s schools in the rural and suburban areas experienced
was highlighted. The increase in numbers of school dropouts among women during
the pandemic and the concomitant rise in child-marriage and human trafficking
were mentioned as well. The necessity of fighting for the relevance of
scientific education in the state’s primary education setup was brought forth too,
in light of the gradual funding decline for natural science education in the state’s
rural-suburban schools particularly. The role and importance of the children’s
mothers and social environment in the rural areas was additionally highlighted,
given their role in looking after the children during a time of crisis like the
pandemic. The work of Poralekha, a joint initiative of Pratham Educational
Foundation and Liver Foundation West Bengal, in this context was mentioned.
Finally, two books were published before the discussion. The first volume of a collection of Arun
Chowdhury’s published works on the lives and issues concerning West Bengal’s
tribal people was published by Prof. Chaudhuri. Additionally, the 4th
Arun Chowdhury Memorial Lecture of 2019 by All India Krishak Sabha (AIKS)
president Dr. Ashok Dhawale was translated from its original Hindi version to Bangla
(Bengali), and published as a book. The theme for the same is ‘Popular
Mobilisation against Communalism’, and it was published by Anirban
Chattopadhyay. The translation was done by Pubali Rana.