In just about a month's time, the CPI(M)-led Left Front government in Bengal will step into its 32nd year. There will be the usual celebrations and banal statements attributing this inordinately long reign to "people's support". The usual paeans will be sung to the Left Front's 'revolutionary' and 'path-breaking' land reforms. Everything else, starting from the collapse of all institutions and systematic subversion of democracy to the state slipping on most development indices and its dismal financial state, will be overlooked or swept under the carpet. But the CPI(M) ought to temper its imminent anniversary celebrations by a frank and objective assessment of its failure on many major fronts, many of which are being discussed in this space this and the next two weeks:
Education
Let's start with this vital sector that ought to be have provided a strong foundation for Bengal's advancement, but which is largely responsible for the mediocrity that Bengal wallows in today. Soon after assuming power on June 21, 1977, the CPI(M), under its ideologue Pramode Dasgupta, abolished English from the primary school level. This foolish decision set the state back by at least five decades; even though the party 'corrected' this a few years ago, the damage was already done.Even though English has been re-introduced from the primary level, those who teach the language are themselves not proficient in it, thanks to the neglect of the subject during their years in schools and colleges.