Kolkata, Sep 5 (IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday announced the setting up of West Bengal University for Teachers' Training and Education.

It will help streamline teachers' training and education in the state.

"We are setting up the West Bengal University for Teachers' Training and Education, bringing all B.Ed. and M.Ed. colleges under one umbrella," Banerjee said at a programme here on Teachers' Day which marks the birthday of former president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

She said the new university will start functioning from the 2015-16 academic year and provide an opportunity to teachers working in schools to complete their degree.

On the occasion, Banerjee felicitated 100 teachers with Shikshak Samman and 42 schools for extending better teaching facilities to students.

"The duty of teachers is not only to impart textbook education but to impart the philosophy of life. Through education, the culture of society is created. Education creates human beings. We must focus on character building," she said.

Hitting out at a section of the media for running a smear campaign against her government, the chief minister said it was wrong to blame all educational institutions for stray incidents.

"The media is not performing its duty now. It is not right to attack all schools and colleges in general for one stray incident.

"Bengal is going through a dark phase. A section of the media is running a malicious smear campaign against Bengal. Some people are only harping on the negatives. This is not the culture of Bengal. We have to be positive and constructive," she added.