Teachers and non-teaching staff stage a sit-in protest demanding their jobs back, in Kolkata.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Kolkata
Teachers protesting outside of West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) continued with their demonstration as authorities sent tentative lists of ‘untainted candidates to regional District Inspector (DI) of School’s offices. Many ‘untainted’ teachers claimed that they were left out of the list as they look at an uncertain future ahead.
According to sources, the SSC office in Kolkata has sent tentative list of “not specifically found tainted” candidates list to local DI offices, who have further shared the list with school headmasters. The school headmasters have been advised to call their teachers back to work as their regular salaries would be ensured by the State Government after the Supreme Court order on April 17 allowed the untainted teachers to continue till the end of the year.
Subhojit Das, a member of the Deserving Teachers Forum alleged that a lot of them have not made it to the list even though the number of ‘untainted’ candidates match the number of candidates they had sent.
“If so many of us have been left out, then how does the number match? Have new or ‘tainted’ people added to the list of ‘untainted’ candidates?” Mr. Subhajit Das questioned while speaking to The Hindu.
Mr. Das also alleged that the lists sent to the DI office are all informal lists some in PDF or Excel sheets which have no government seal or letterhead to provide them with the assurance of an “official” list.
The teachers who have been left out of the list of ‘untainted’ candidates have been asked by the SSC authorities to fill out a google form so that they can be included in the list. But Mr. Das accused that the SSC should have a concrete list of the ‘untainted’ candidates after the Central Bureau of Investigation reports.
A section of ‘tainted’ teachers/candidates association has also stepped up their protests and are now conducting a sit-in demonstration outside the SSC office. They have repeatedly gotten into minor scuffles with the ‘untainted’ candidates who have been sitting outside the office since April 21.
The protesting teachers had also allowed the SCC Chairperson, Siddhartha Majumdar to leave the premises on April 23 (Wednesday) after he was gheraoed for more than 40 hours inside his office along with the staff members.
Fast continues
Non-teaching staff who were also protesting outside the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) office in Salt Lake continued their protests as they received no assurance from the authorities.
Eight of their members were conducting an indefinite hunger strike inside the WBBSE office and the fast has crossed more than 72 hours. Two of them, Kaushik Mondal and Rajasree Basak were admitted to the Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College after their vitals dropped drastically.
The fasting members are refusing to drink water. Two of them have been put on saline after a doctor’s recommendation. Another fasting non-teaching staff Ashit Barai lost consciousness and had to be rushed to the hospital on Thursday (April 24) evening.
A fasting non-teaching staff said, “A list of untainted Group C, D staff needs to be published immediately. We have sent a letter to the Chief Minister, but we have gotten no assurance.”
Published – April 25, 2025 11:22 am IST