Intensifying protests over the ongoing SSC recruitment crisis, a large group of sacked teaching and non-teaching staff held a protest march to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Monday, June 16, seeking a meeting with chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

While one group marched from Subodh Mullick Square to the Assembly, another faction headed to the state education department headquarters, Bikash Bhavan, to submit a memorandum to Education Minister Bratya Basu.

The demonstrators, many of whom have lost their jobs due to alleged irregularities in the SSC recruitment process, beat traditional drums as they marched through the city, demanding justice and reinstatement.

Speaking to reporters, a member of the Deserving Teachers Rights Forum, which has been spearheading the movement, said, “By asking us to sit for a fresh recruitment test, the state government has virtually signed the death warrant for eligible teaching and non-teaching staff who were invalidated by the SC order.”

Last month, the CM had said her government would begin fresh teacher recruitment as per the Supreme Court order while filing a review plea for reinstating terminated candidates.

She assured that age relaxation and weightage for prior work experience would be given to all the terminated staff in the new selection process.

The Supreme Court, in its April 3 verdict, had cancelled the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff, citing irregularities in the recruitment process.

Another protester questioned the feasibility of the chief minister’s offer.

“If we have to sit for competitive exams and qualify, what will be the syllabus? Will we have to sit along with students from the 2018-19 and later batches? This is unjust,” he said.

For the past few days, protestors have also been staging a sit-in at Central Park, further intensifying their movement.

The protestors have categorically refused to participate in the fresh round of SSC exams, citing that their initial appointments were made on merit and that they have become collateral damage in a larger case of institutional corruption.

They are also demanding immediate withdrawal of the recruitment notices, publication of mirror image copies of OMR sheets for transparency, and the formation of a flawless merit list based on those OMRs.

Another major demand includes the convening of an emergency session of the West Bengal Assembly to address the crisis and ensure the reinstatement of all eligible candidates from the 2016 panel with full service continuity and respect.

On Friday, five representatives from the ‘SSC Job-Deprived Qualified Teachers’ Forum’ had met Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee to press for urgent intervention.

Adding to the tension, 10 protestors began an indefinite hunger strike at 1am on June 13. Despite six of them falling ill, the hunger strike continues, with the protestors vowing not to relent unless the CM grants them an audience and the Supreme Court verdict affecting their employment is reconsidered.

As the form fill-up process for the new SSC examination begins, the protests have thrown a fresh spotlight on the long-standing controversy, placing the state government under mounting pressure to resolve the issue.

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