At a time when the education sector in West Bengal is daily hitting the national headlines for negative reasons after being saddled by the multi-crore teachers’ recruitment scam, a proposal from an education outfit under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has come as a breather for the state education department.

It is learnt that UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, one of the six educational institutes of UNESCO, has forwarded a proposal to West Bengal government with the intention of partnering with the state education department for the development of the education sector in West Bengal.

“The state government has acknowledged and welcomed the proposal and written to the institute accepting the same.

“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee herself sent the acknowledgement reply,” said a senior official in the education department.

The official also said that a representative team from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning is scheduled to visit the state shortly and hold a meeting with the Chief Minister, Education Minister Bratya Basu and the top officials of the education department.

“A memorandum of understanding might be signed between the institute and the state government following the meeting,” the official said.

In 2021, Kolkata’s Durga Puja made its place in the list of “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” of UNESCO. It was the first Asian festival to receive the prestigious recognition.

Political observers feel that the proposal from UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning to partner with the education department will also provide the Trinamool Congress with a tool to counter the opposition’s criticism of the state’s education sector.

UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning is a non-profit international research, training and information outfit promoting literacy, non-formal education and adult and lifelong learning.

Its mission is to get all forms of education and learning, formal or informal, recognised, valued and made available for meeting the demands of the individual communities worldwide.