West Bengal Primary Education Act, 1973
No: 43 Dated: Sep, 20 1974
THE WEST BENGAL PRIMARY EDUCATION ACT, 1973
West Bengal Act XLIII of 1973
An Act to make better provision for the development, expansion, management and control of primary education with a view to making it universal, free and compulsory.
Whereas it is expedient to make better provision for the development, expansion, management and control of primary education with a view to making it universal, free and compulsory;
It is hereby enacted as follows:
Part I
CHAPTER I
Preliminary
1. Short title, extent and commencement. - (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Primary Education Act, 1973.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force in such areas and on such dates as the State Government may, by notification, appoint and different dates may be appointed for different areas or for different provisions of this Act.
2. Definitions. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, -
(i) "attendance" at a school means presence for instruction at a primary school for so many days in a school year and at such time or times on each day of attendance as may be required by the prescribed educational authority;
(ii) "Board" means the West Bengal Board of Primary Education established under this Act;
(iii)"Calcutta" means Calcutta defined in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation Act, 1980;
(iv) "Chairman" means the Chairman of a Primary School Council;
(v) "child" means a boy or girl who has completed five but not eleven years of age on the date of commencement of a school year, and includes any boy or girl who completes five years of age within ninety days from the date of commencement of a school year;
(vi) "Director" means the Director of School Education, West Bengal and includes the Commissioner of School Education, where the Commissioner of School Education is posted in place of the Director;
(vii) "District Inspector of Schools (Primary Education)", "District Officer for Physical Education and Youth Welfare", "District School Education Officer" and "District Special Officer for Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare" mean the respective officers designated as such by the State Government;
(viii)"District School Board" means a District School Board established under the Bengal (Rural) Primary Education Act, 1930;
(ix) "guardian" means any person to whom the care, nurturing or custody of any child falls by law or by natural right or recognized usage, or who has accepted or assumed the care, nurturing or custody of any child or to whom the care or custody of any child has been entrusted by any lawful authority;
(x) "hill areas" has the same meaning as in the Darjeeling Gorkha Autonomous Hill Council Act, 1988;
(xi) "Primary Teachers' Training Institute" includes a Primary Training School and a Senior Teachers' Training School for women recognized by the Director;
(xii) "linguistic minority community" means a community whose mother tongue is any language other than Bengali;
(xiii) "municipality" means any place in which the Bengal Municipal Act, 1932 or the Chandemagore Municipal Act, 1955 or the Howrah Municipal Act, 1965 is in force and includes an area constituted by the State Government as a notified area under section 93A of the Bengal Municipal Act, 1932
(xiv) "non-specified.municipality" means a municipality other than a specified municipality;
(xv) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(xvi) "President" means the President of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education;
(xvii) "primary education" means such elementary education as is imparted through a primary school;
(xviii) "primary school" means a school, or a department of a school, set up under this Act for imparting such primary education as the State Government may prescribe, and includes a primary school, or a junior basic school, recognized under this Act and in existence on the date of coming into force of the West Bengal Primary Education (Amendment) Act, 1996;
(xix) "Primary School Council" means a District Primary School Council established under section 37, and includes the Siliguri Primary School Council referred to in sub-section (2A) of that section and the Calcutta Primary School Council referred to in section 38;
(xx) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made or notification or orders issued, as the case may be, by the State Government under this Act;
(xxi) "school year" means the year beginning with such date as the Board may, with the previous approval of the State Government, fix;
(xxii) "specified municipality" means a municipality or a group of two or more municipalities specified by the State Government by notification for the purposes of this Act;
(xxiii) "Vice-Chairman" means the Vice-Chairman of the Primary School Council;
(xxiv) "Vice-President" means the Vice-President of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education;
(xxv) "year" means a year beginning on the first day of April.
Part II
CHAPTER II
The Board
3. Establishment and incorporation of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. - (1) The State Government shall, by notification, establish, with effect from such date as may be specified in the notification, a Board to be called the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.
(2) The Board shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal, shall be entitled to acquire, hold and dispose of property, to enter into contracts and to do all other things necessary for the purposes of this Act, and shall by its corporate name sue and be sued.