A multiplicity of school boards cannot attain the noble objectives of the Right to Education Act. This is quite the most charitable construct that can be placed upon the West Bengal government’s decision to set up a separate board for English-medium schools, most particularly the missionary institutions.

On the face of it, this will be in addition to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), the Central board that conducts the CBSE exam, and the two state boards for the Secondary and Higher Secondary exams.

Not that the likes of Partha Chatterjee are unaware that many of these English-medium schools impart the best instruction. As education minister, he is grappling with a turmoil of ideas, as most education ministers are prone to.

Unwittingly or otherwise, he emulates his CPI-M predecessor, Kanti Biswas, who in 2005 had wanted to turn the screws on Anglo-Indian schools, notably by determining their fee structure and the terms of teachers’ appointment. The move was generally criticised even within the Left, and it is quite another story that he wasn’t nominated for the 2006 assembly election.

As reported in this newspaper, the raison d’etre of the new board is to ensure that these schools enforce the government’s norms to facilitate “state regulation”.

This is bound to impinge on the autonomy of Anglo-Indian schools, which function with the Church as the overarching entity. As much is clear from the minister’s statement that “at times the schools affiliated to the CISCE do not follow our instructions”.

Sad to reflect, there is little to distinguish the praxis of the Trinamul government from that of the CPI-M. Of course, the Left’s education minister didn’t have his way.

Chatterjee’s politically-driven initiative does call for reflection, as does the Centre’s dithering over detention and more recently the move to hold a common examination in Class 5 and 8. Small wonder that the second has been stoutly opposed by the schools generally.

The function of the board has been left delightfully vague by the minister, pending the legislation which is said to be on the anvil.

But should a pragmatic school of learning have its way, the Bill, crafted by Chatterjee, may be expected to buttress the state’s agenda to monitor the fee structure and to frame its own norms. The breathless initiative comes after a bout of simulated bonhomie at a meeting convened by the Chief Minister with “Lady Principals” at Town Hall recently. There was no verbal demarche on fees, unlike the interaction with the authorities of private hospitals.

It must remain open to question whether a “board run by the state government can ensure that the fees are not exorbitant”, as the minister imagines. The government ought to be riveted to the other issue ~ “donations” for admission.