New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s decision that protesting teachers have to re-take the SSC exam has shattered their confidence. So far, the teachers have been protesting against the state government for their reinstatement.
On April 3, the Supreme Court termed the entire recruitment process of 2016 SSC panel as ‘vitiated and tainted’ and struck down the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff. As a result, around 1,000 protesters belonging to the Deserving Teachers Rights Forum are protesting since May 15.
They are demanding reinstatement, as the landmark Supreme Court order removed them from their jobs as part of the judgment regarding SSC scam. So far, the teachers have remain fixed on their demand of not appearing for fresh recruitment tests. Their argument is that since they had already cleared the 2016 West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) exam and have been actively teaching since then, they will not appear in the new recruitment exams.
Now, the sacked teachers are disappointed with CM Banerjee as do not want the exam notification to be issued. On Tuesday, CM Banerjee said that the exam notification should be issued in accordance with the Supreme Court’s order. She said that the state government plans to advertise 24,203 vacant posts, with a total of 44,203 proposed vacancies, including both existing and newly created positions.
Banerjee said at a press conference that WBSSC will release a recruitment notification on May 30 and online applications will be open from June 16 to July 14. The recruitment panel will be announced on November 15, and counselling sessions will start on November 20. The entire process is expected to conclude by December 31, in line with the timeline given by the Supreme Court.
She had issued a death warrant: Sacked teachers
Immediately after the Chief Minister’s announcement, the sacked teachers held a press conference and said, “Seeing the Chief Minister’s press conference, we felt like she had issued a death warrant for all qualified teachers and education workers.” Notably, CM Mamata said that the government will file a review petition seeking to reinstate the 25,753 employees whose appointments were recently cancelled.
After Mamata’s press conference, the Deserving Teachers Rights Forum called a press conference on behalf of the sacked teachers. There, they said, “We never wanted the notification of the job vacancy to be published. The Supreme Court judgment that the CM was referring to does not have any guidelines regarding such detailed notification. We had a fear that the government was trying to take us towards testing. With the notification of details, that fear is coming true. We feel that the government lacks goodwill in bringing back the eligible teachers.”
They further stated, “We did not see in today’s statement the commitment that the government was supposed to have towards us who have served for 7 years.” The unemployed teachers also explained why they do not want to sit for the job exam again. They now teach school books to students and have been away from their undergraduate and postgraduate studies for so long, and the questions in the job exam will come from there. On top of that, they are mentally devastated after losing their jobs. They have raised the question of whether it is possible to resume studies for exam within two months.
They said, “There is a difference between the general exam and the job exam. We did not want a new exam notification. Only age relaxation, this is not justice.” One sacked teacher asked, “If we sit for the exam and someone fails, it is not made clear what will happen to them.” They made it clear, “Our movement will continue. We do not want to take the exam.” They demanded that every effort be made to bring back qualified teachers through a review petition.
