Kolkata:
Hundreds of teachers who lost jobs on an order of the Supreme Court on the “tainted” selection process in the state staged a protest in Kolkata today, during which they clashed with the police. The police had installed barricades, which the protesters tried to break and enter Bashkha Bhavan at Salt Lake. The building has many major departments of the state government including education.
The protesters, who have been raising slogans outside the building since noon, have been refusing to disperse. They want Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to come and personally assure them that they will not have to sit for recruitment trials again.
One of the protesters said, “We will not sit for a new exam. Our demand is clear – our jobs should be restored. We will not leave until the Chief Minister talks to us.”
Later, some protesters destroyed the barricades and broke the main gate of the building. The police tried to push them back, which led to vengeance.
On 7 April, the Supreme Court ordered the dismissal of 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff admitted by teachers and non-teaching staff under the West Bengal School Services Commission admitted by the state in 2016, stating that the entire process was surrounded by irregularities.
“In our opinion, this is a case in which the entire selection process is beyond the resolution and tired. Large-scale manipulations and frauds, which together with cover-up, have reduced the selection process beyond repair and partial redemption. The credibility and validity of the selection has been rejected,” the court said.
But later, given the plight of the students, the court gave relief to the ‘uncontrolled’ teachers – whose names were not associated with any irregularity during the investigation. This relief applies only to teaching students of classes 9, 10, 11 and 12.
Several schools across the state lost several teachers at one time following the order of the apex court and the State Government and the School Services Commission contacted the courts for relief.
