Kolkata: When West Bengal minister Manas Bhuiyan mounted the stage at a freshers’ welcome ceremony at a college in his constituency and publicly tore into students, teachers and the campus in general, the incident was shocking enough on its own. But the episode did more than embarrass one rural college. It exposed, in unusually blunt language, a crisis that has been building for years and now stretches far beyond a single college in Paschim Medinipur.At Sabang Sajanikanta Mahavidyalaya in Paschim Medinipur, the minister’s speech was extraordinary not only for its tone, but also for what it revealed. Bhuiyan, who is also the president of the college’s governing body, complained from the dais that teachers were not taking classes and that students no longer felt attached to the institution. His remarks left many in the audience stunned.এটা পশ্চিম মেদিনীপুর জেলার ‘সবং সজনীকান্ত মহাবিদ্যালয়’-এর নবীন বরণ অনুষ্ঠানে রাজ্যের মন্ত্রী মানস ভূঁইয়ার সাধারণ ছাত্র-ছাত্রীকে হুমকি দেওয়ার ভিডিও!কলেজে তিনি প্রথমে অধ্যাপক অধ্যাপিকাদের স্ট্যান্ডার্ড নিয়ে তির্যক মন্তব্য করেন কারণ তিনি অন্য একটি কলেজের নবীন বরণ অনুষ্ঠানে… pic.twitter.com/0CEVaJZ4rC— Priyanka Tibrewal (@impriyankabjp) March 4, 2026“The students do not love their college. They come dressed up for the freshers’ ceremony, dance, eat, and then forget everything,” Bhuiyan told the stunned audience. The standard of the professors here has gone down terribly -very bad, below standard. They don’t take classes They give private tuition and draw lakhs of rupees in salary from the government. I have requested the transfer of the useless principal. I have never seen such low-quality teachers in my life.”It was an unusually blunt public admission, from within the ruling establishment itself, that large parts of West Bengal’s higher education system are sinking under the weight of falling enrolment, shrinking interest in science and conventional degree courses, weak teaching conditions, politicised campuses, and a growing collapse of faith in public colleges.Yet what is striking is that even those critical of the minister’s conduct do not entirely dismiss the larger problem he pointed to.“The minister spoke many truths, but it is not right to publicly insult ordinary students and teachers like this,” Somesh Duari, an alumnus of the college, said. “He himself is the chairman of the governing body. The college student union is controlled by members of his own party. The minister should first control his own party workers.”Established in 1970, Sabang College caters to students from four neighbouring blocks and has secured a B grade from NAAC. But its enrolment has been steadily declining. While the college had around 1,400 students in 2011, that number has dropped to 850 this year.The fall is particularly stark in departments such as Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Mathematics, Political Science and Commerce, where enrolment reportedly ranges between just 5% and 12%. By contrast, Bengali, Education, Geography and Zoology continue to attract relatively higher levels of interest, with seat occupancy ranging between 45% and 65%.“Student numbers are decreasing in all colleges, and this college is no exception,” principal Tapan Dutta told The Wire. “However, I cannot comment on allegations about incompetent teachers, ‘demon-like’ students, or the minister’s statements.”One student, Tapas Mahapatra, explained the state of affairs, “I don’t go to college anymore. What’s the point of studying? We won’t get government jobs anyway. I’m trying to find work in Bhubaneswar. If that works out, I’ll leave. The college is dominated by one-sided politics, so I stay away from it.”His remark captures a broader generational break. For many students, especially in rural and semi-urban Bengal, a college degree no longer appears to guarantee either employment or social mobility.The 2025 undergraduate admissions cycle laid bare the crisis. Official figures showed that even after two rounds of counselling, more than 70% of undergraduate seats in state-run and state-aided colleges remained vacant. Out of 9,36,215 seats, only 2,69,777 were filled. More than 4.21 lakh students had registered on the centralised portal, but a majority did not eventually take admission. That left over 6.6 lakh seats vacant.A NITI Aayog report released in February 2025 noted that West Bengal’s Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for the 18-23 age group stood at 26.3% in 2021-22. While this marks a significant rise from 13.6% in 2011-12, the state ranks only 18th among Indian states.“We did not see such a situation when we were students or even during our teaching careers. To reach higher education, one must first pass through the primary level, and that foundation has been weakened,” explained academician Miratun Nahar. “At the same time, the absence of pass-fail systems in government education means many students enroll but do not attend classes.”Over the past 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule, the state has expanded the formal infrastructure of higher education. The number of colleges has risen substantially, and the state now has 45 universities. However, this expansion has been met with significant staffing challenges, as most colleges and universities face a vacancy rate of approximately 30-35% in permanent teaching posts.To manage this deficit, institutions have become overwhelmingly dependent on over 15,000 State Aided College Teachers (SACTs), whose consolidated monthly remuneration ranges from Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 depending on their qualifications and length of service. The state spending on higher education is also relatively low, with expenditure amounting to just 0.43% of GSDP.“This government has shown no real accountability for education. The quality of education has steadily declined. By effectively endorsing the NEP 2020, it has also advanced the broader push towards the privatisation of education,” claimed Subhoydoy Dasgupta, President, West Bengal College and University Teachers’ Association. “Affluents are preferring private institutions while students from lower and middle-class households away from higher studies and into precarious gig work.”At Sabang College, there are 28 permanent and 48 contractual teachers. That staffing pattern says a great deal about the wider condition of the system.“The college has been running since 1970, and such a situation never occurred before,” said a local. “One of the teachers here is also someone who lost a school teaching job following a 2016 court verdict. Does the minister not know how this decline is happening?”That question looms over the Sabang episode. Which is why the outburst seemed less like outside intervention and more like a custodian, perhaps unwittingly, acknowledging the consequences of years of governmental neglect.