Teachers protesting outside the West Bengal SSC headquarters have temporarily suspended their demonstration after the release of an eligible candidates list, but will continue their protest at Shaheed Minar while focusing on a Supreme Court petition.
Teachers who have been protesting outside the headquarters of the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) for the past five days have decided to temporarily suspend their demonstration and return to their schools after the SSC published the list of eligible candidates on Friday.
The decision was taken after the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) released a list of approximately 16,000 eligible teachers. A leader from the Eligible Teachers’ Forum, Dhrithish Mandal, confirmed that the protest outside the SSC headquarters would be called off. However, he noted that their protest at the Shaheed Minar in central Kolkata would continue.
“We are withdrawing our protest from the SSC headquarters starting today. Our protest will now continue at Shaheed Minar,” Mandal said. He further explained that the forum is now focusing on a review petition that will be filed in the Supreme Court regarding an order from April 3 that invalidated the jobs of nearly 26,000 teachers recruited after the 2016 SSC exam.
Legal consultation to focus on court petition
Mandal emphasised that the protest was being paused temporarily to allow the forum’s legal experts to prepare the petition for the Supreme Court. “Sitting outside all day makes it difficult for us to consult legal experts and prepare the petition,” Mandal added. “However, our protest at Shaheed Minar will continue until eligible teachers are reinstated.”
Shubhankar Ghosh, another teacher participating in the protest, stated that their demands regarding the inclusion of names of additional teachers in the list would continue. The teachers were demanding that 10 names missing from the list be included. SSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar acknowledged the omission, attributing it to a technical error, and promised to release an updated list.
Incomplete list published by SSC
Majumdar commented on the situation, saying, “The list has been released, but it is incomplete. However, for now, it is reasonable for those included in the list to return to their schools.” He also noted that the Supreme Court is monitoring the situation.
One of the protesting teachers mentioned, “We will resume our protest during the summer holidays, focusing on our remaining demands, which include reinstating teachers up to the age of 60 and releasing the full list of eligible candidates.”
History of protest
The protests began on April 21, when teachers demanded the restoration of jobs up to the retirement age and immediate removal of “tainted” candidates from the 2016 SSC recruitment. The protests intensified earlier this week when the teachers held SSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar hostage in his office for over 40 hours, demanding the publication of the OMR sheets and a list of unblemished candidates.
Court ruling and job losses
The protests followed the Supreme Court’s ruling on April 3, which cancelled the entire 2016 recruitment panel due to widespread irregularities. As a result, around 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in state-aided schools lost their jobs. While the Supreme Court allowed the continuation of the services of untainted teachers until December 31, the protesting teachers are calling for a review to extend their employment until retirement.
(PTI inputs)
