35 -year -old Payal Dutta, and 33 -year -old Smriti Roy, sit on the pavement outside the Building building in Salt Lake area of Kolkata. He is writing to the President of India Draupadi Murmu, asking him to restore his jobs as teachers. Either, or they want permission for “voluntary euthanasia”. Bikash Bhavan is the headquarters of the State Education Department of West Bengal, and Dutta and Roy teach mathematics and English respectively.
Two months ago, the Supreme Court canceled the appointment of 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools. The appointments were made by the West Bengal School Services Commission (WBSSC) in 2016, the body that conducts entrance exams for school jobs. Since then, Basht Bhavan has become a site of protests of those whose appointment has been canceled. Women and men, in their 30s and 40s, gather outside the building of many, blue and white government.
Wiping his tears, Dutta, who teaches at Murshidabad Indrani Hasna Mayani High School, says, “When I took the exam in 2016, I was unmarried and not a child; I had free time to get ready. Now, I have to compete in the in -laws to do a work.”
Roy, who taught at the Baharampur Mahakali Pathshala, says that she always used to see teaching as a great profession, but now she struggles. “We were beaten, dragged on the streets, and we have shed blood on the streets too. We have lost all self-respect. Our students see us sitting on the streets, getting baton-charge by the police. Will they like us anytime before?” Roy says. She too is now a mother and cannot imagine going through the recruitment process again. Most of the people admitted in 2016 worked for about five years before their dismissal earlier this year.
A series of events
The West Bengal School recruitment scam came out in July 2022, when former state education minister Partha Chatterjee and his colleague Arpita Mukherjee were arrested by the Enforcement Directorate. The Union Investigation Agency joined the minister and his colleague. 103.10 crores recovered cash, jewelery and immovable property worth.
So far, the arrest has been taken as a result of the investigation which includes officials of the State Education Department, politicians and touts associated with the ruling Trinumool Congress. Touts would allegedly offer jobs in the state -run schools, which were paid for the time, which was then paid. SC has determined that “select people with selected evidence and materials were wrong to abandon their jobs.
The protests began on 3 April after the Supreme Court’s decision, canceling all the appointments. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee met those who lost their jobs on 7 April. “We have ‘plan A, B, C, D, and E are ready. Have you received any notice to finish your job? You go and work …. who has stopped you?” He assured the teachers.
The first incident of violence occurred on 9 April, when the protesters storm the office of the District Inspector (DI) of the schools in Kasba, South Kolkata and a scuffle occurred. Later in a broadcast video, a police officer was seen kicking a protesting teacher, who inspired the displeasure.
On April 17, the Supreme Court allowed teachers who claim that they were legally selected and have not done any wrongdoing to continue in the state government and aided schools. They should be retained until fresh recruitment in December 2025. The court also directed the state government to file an affidavit on May 30 before attaching a program of advertising and entire recruitment process.
Groups of rejected teachers protest against the recruitment ‘scam’. , Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
In the first two weeks of May, extensive protests were observed by those who lost the job, mostly outside the Bikish building. Through a shorthand, he called himself “unpublished”. On 15 May, hundreds of protesters collected outside the Bikash Bhavan, saying that they would not allow government employees to leave the office until the state government found any way.
Tension increased as the evening descended, and the employees working in many departments became desperate to leave. A large contingent of police arrived to clean the protesters around the gate of the government institution. The police resorted to the baton charge, injuring the score of the protesters. It was covered extensively on live television news.
The next day, the West Bengal Police justified its works, saying that they are calling the crisis from the employees who wanted to return home. “We understand that they have lost their jobs, but they have broken the barricades, used force to go inside the Bikash Bhavan, and have not allowed more than 500 employees to leave the campus,” Supratim government, South Bengal, Supratim government said, addressing the media.
Chinmoy Mondal, representative of a group of teacher rights forum of a group formed for protest, says that everyone knows why “qualified teachers” are on the streets and outside Bokha Bhavan. “They call this minimal force? It left us with fracture, head and eye injuries and lack of blood,” Mondal said.
On 27 May, CM said that his government will start a new recruitment process for teachers as per the Supreme Court order. Along with this, the government will chase a review petition in SC, demanding the restoration of all teachers and non-teaching employees who lost their jobs.
“The process of review petition and fresh appointments will continue simultaneously,” he said at the State Secretariat, “A, B, C, D and E” brought options down to two. On 31 May, West Bengal took out a notification for appointment for 44,203 vacancies as teachers. The government allowed age exemption so that teachers whose jobs have been canceled can get a shot in recruitment.
Physical injury and mental trauma
By the first week of June, the protesters were asked to move to a separate place. The most accessible place for all was the metro station closest to Basht Bhavan. In the afternoon of June, hundreds of young women and men came out of the Karunamoy metro station and greeted each other like old friends.
“How are you? How is your eye? You look tired,” a protector asked 33 -year -old Rajat Haldar, a physics teacher at Subhash Nagar High School in South 24 Pargana. From May 15, Haldar has found a deep mark on his left eyebrow. He claims that this has been since he was beaten by the police. “It is difficult for me to stay in the sun for a very long time. My head starts beating,” he tells a well -working partner.
A teacher breaks down at the protest site. , Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
He says that the May 15 is painful to remember the memories of the violent clashes. “I remember around 9.30, around 9.30, after the verbal change between the protesters and the police outside the Bikash Bhavan, some of my fellow teachers and I was peacefully sitting with one of the boundary walls. Two police personnel came and demanded to know that we later, without any warnings, two constables charged their chief and said.
Suvjit Das, in the mid -30s,, Jogyo Shikkhoka Shikhik Adhikar Manch (JSSAM), an organization of “afflicted teachers”, often visit the protest site in Karunamoy.
Says Das, “We are dying a slow death every day. It is one thing to be executed at a moment notice, and this is another matter when you will be executed and will have to wait until the day,” Das says, because fellow teachers gather around him. The mathematics teacher said, “For us, our last working day set by the Supreme Court, this is so. We worry about 31 December.”
The protesting teachers say that Praveen Karmakar, a teacher of Amui Para refugee school in Hooghly, died during a protest. He had an inherent disease that started with “severe mental stress”, he says.
In an opposed to a hunger, about 20 teachers participated, two of whom are blind, many have been admitted to the hospital.
Non-teaching staff
Among the employees of the state-run schools, who have lost their jobs, were 2,483 Group C Staff and 4,550 Group D employees serving in non-teaching capabilities. He had to leave the day after the scal order. So far no recruitment notification has been done for Group C and D employees.
Amit Mondal, one of the leaders of the Group C and D Staff Members, says that clerical employees are the backbone of schools. Non-teaching staff maintains classrooms, performs various administrative functions, and ensure to run schemes such as Kansree Prakalpa, which encourages girls to stay in school up to class 12.
The protesting teachers write to the President of India to either ask to restore their jobs or allow them for voluntary euthanasia. , Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
“I bring my son, who is only one and a half years old every day. I have no choice. If I do not earn, he will not get his food. Thankfully, my husband has been a column of support in the struggle,” a group of Purulia, a group of Purulia, is called Mala Hansda. She tries to calm her child, crying under the scorching sun.
On 26 April, the CM announced ₹ 25,000 to Group C and D employees and Result 20,000 criteria, until the Supreme Court announced a decision on the state review petition. But the allowance, which was approved by the State Cabinet, was challenged before the Calcutta High Court by some job candidates, who claim that they were not appointed for ‘irregularities’. Now, the monthly allowance until 26 September, remains according to the court order.
Recruitment ‘scam’
Firdus Shamim, a lawyer in the Calcutta High Court, has represented various candidates who accused irregularities in the recruitment process. “This scam is an example of institutional corruption. Marks and rank were manipulated in marks and rank jumping; candidates who did not appear in the examination were not appointed,” says the lawyer.
Central investigative agencies found evidence of the tampering of the optical mark reader (OMR) sheet, where they found that the marks of several candidates were forged. The WBSSC claims that the OMR sheet of the 2016 examination has been destroyed and cannot be recovered.
Shadab Shams and Aftab Ansari are married. Both have lost their jobs following the Supreme Court order. Shadab teaches Urdu at a school in Kankinara, and Aftab is a geography teacher at a Hindi-middle school in Titgarh. The couple sometimes bring their daughter to protest because there is no one to take care of her at home.
“What has happened to us is a serious injustice. The government is responsible for corruption, and now we are on the verge of crisis. What we did?” Shams say.
shrabana.chatterjee@thehindu.co.in
moyurie.som@thehindu.co.in
Edited by Sunlini Matthew
