The teachers cited the example of Barasat Government College where a post-graduate course in Botany has started even though the college is starved of teachers in the undergraduate courses.

General secretary Benoy Bhusan Chakraborty said there politicisation of higher education, including the examination system, was rampant. “Head examiners, who have no past experience of conducting examinations, are appointed,” he said.

The teachers alleged that 20-25 per cent of seats in all government general degree colleges and technical colleges are vacant.

President of the association Anup Dutta Gupta said, “In spite of the recommendations of the university team that visited the college against running the post-graduate programme, the government is bent upon starting new courses.”