Following Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s announcement from Nabanna on Tuesday that the notification for a fresh recruitment examination will be issued on May 30, teachers protesting outside Bikash Bhavan have expressed outrage, calling the move “no less than a death sentence.”
According to the Chief Minister’s announcement, the application process for the new recruitment will begin on June 16, with the last date for submission set for July 14.
This decision has sparked anger among the agitating teachers who had secured jobs through the scrapped panel.
Vrindaban Ghosh, spokesperson for the Joggo Shikhok Shikhika Adhikar Mancha, told reporters, “The government should have prioritised the review petition. But we see that the government is more keen to conduct the fresh recruitment tests. This is like a death sentence for us.”
The protest stems from the Supreme Court’s April 3 verdict upholding a Calcutta High Court order that annulled 25,753 school appointments made through the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) in 2016. The apex court stated the entire recruitment panel had to be scrapped as authorities failed to distinguish between “tainted” and “untainted” candidates. Since then, the state government and the WBSSC have filed review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of the judgment, which are pending.
Chinmoy Mondol, a prominent protester, said, “She should have said that they are giving priority to the review first and then the exam, but she said the opposite. Her target should have been the legal fight, not just the review or exams. She should have mentioned the necessary steps to ensure that the review is accepted. Exams should have been secondary. Everyone must follow the Supreme Court order, but in other cases, alternatives have always been found. In our case, it seems the main agenda was to hold exams.”
The protesting teachers, many of whom have worked for eight to nine years, say it is unjust to subject them again to competitive exams that they already cleared. They claim they are neither mentally nor physically prepared for such tests after years in service.
They also questioned the government’s decision to announce vacancies for 44,203 posts. “The first priority should have been securing the jobs of the 25,753 who lost theirs,” said one protester. “The exams should only be for those affected, not for new candidates.”
Bidisha Mukhopadhyay, one of the affected teachers, criticised the Chief Minister’s statement: “The Chief Minister is saying that she will make space for the tainted in the education and other departments, and the untainted will have to give exams. Does this mean the tainted will get a smooth path to jobs, and we, the untainted, have to suffer? What is our fault?”
According to sources, a group of the agitating teachers plans to try and meet the Prime Minister during his scheduled visit to Alipurduar in West Bengal on Thursday.