A day after the Supreme Court cancelled the appointments of 25,752 teachers and staff in Bengal’s government and aided schools over 2016 recruitment irregularities, many of those affected opened up about how the verdict has upended their lives, plunging them into uncertainty and despair.
While the sacked teachers are now left with stories of shattered dreams and financial turmoil, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has promised that it would soon initiate the process of conducting fresh exams for all teaching and non teaching candidates who were part of the 2016 recruitment drive.
Amit Ranjan Bhuyan does not have a job in the wake of the Supreme Court order. He taught physical science to Class 9 and 10 and after losing his job, Amit Ranjan blames the Mamata Banerjee government.
“We studied, cracked a competitive exam and got a job. Some people resorted to corruption. It would not have been possible without the state government’s support. But those untainted like us were expecting that we would be able to continue in our jobs. This judgment has destroyed our lives. I have a nine-year-old daughter, my wife and my mother. There are EMIs, how will we look for new jobs now,” he told NDTV.
Many have highlighted that even those who cleared the exam and secured their positions on merit have now lost their jobs. Now they all have blamed the state government for the uncertainties they face.
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“Why so much corruption? The state government is responsible. But the Supreme Court should have given relief to those not involved in corruption. Why did I lose my job?” he said, adding, “If I were 25-26, I would have cracked another exam. The confidence levels are different then. I am 39 now, which job will I be eligible for?”
Rajat Halder, another teacher who lost his job, said, “There is no allegation against us and the 19,000 candidates like me. But still, the Supreme Court has declared us unqualified teachers. We are qualified teachers because the investigation agencies have not found any allegation against me. We are fully untainted teachers. The Supreme Court has done a grave injustice against an untainted candidate like me.”
Who lost their jobs?
With the top court scrapping over 25,000 jobs in the recruitment case, around 12,905 serving teachers of Classes 9 and 10 in state schools have now lost their posts.
The number of job losers in Classes 11 and 12 stood at 5,712.
The rest of the nearly 26,000 dismissed employees are non-teaching staff belonging to Group C and D categories.
What did WBSSC say?
WBSSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said the commission, in view of the top court order, would seek legal advice on the eligibility of candidates who can take the fresh tests.
“About 26 lakh candidates had applied for the exams in 2016 and around 22 lakh appeared for the tests. Of them, some 1.41 lakh candidates were aspirants for Classes 9-10 and another about 1.5 lakh candidates sat for teachers’ recruitment in Classes 11-12.”
“The rest were candidates for non-teaching posts. Although the Supreme Court has directed us to initiate the selection process for filling up the vacancies, we will need legal clarification on whether new candidates are also eligible to take part in the fresh exams,” Majumdar said.
The chairman, however, confirmed that given the large volume of candidates involved, the completion of the selection process within three months was unlikely. “There is no mention of a three-month deadline in the court order. This is a long process and we are unlikely to finish it within three months,” Majumdar said.
“We will initiate the process of starting the fresh examination of 22 lakh candidates as soon as possible. We will also make our recommendations to the school education department, but cannot share any further details at this stage,” he said.
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