Educators of West Bengal in deep hopelessness as SC removes more than 25,000 teachers

A surge of hopelessness has surged through numerous teachers in West Bengal after the Supreme Court’s ruling to annul the appointments of around 26,000 teachers and personnel in government-run and government-supported schools.

For months, educators have been gathering at Shahid Minar in Dharmatala every second day to deliberate on the matter. On Thursday, they remained seated, viewing the live verdict, which cast their careers into doubt.

The Supreme Court confirmed the Calcutta High Court’s decision, classifying the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) hiring procedure as ,  “vitiated and tainted by fraud” and cancelling the appointment of 25,753 teachers.

Amit Ranjan Bhuiyan, a teacher of Physical Science at Keorakhali Nakul Sahadeb High School in the Medinipur district, is one of those struggling with the recent news. Having taught since 2019 after clearing the recruitment exam in 2016, Bhuiyan, now living in Garia, conveyed his deep disappointment.

“I was bright in studies so I thought I would grab a government job. Getting a government job is very tough, it takes a lot of hard work. I am clueless as to what I will do next,” he lamented.

Aditi Basu, a mathematics teacher at Dakhineshwar Bharati Bhawan in Barasat, questioned the logic behind the decision.

“If we are not competent for the job, then all those answer sheets that we have checked of class X and XII should also be cancelled. I feel ashamed today that I am an Indian and our judicial system is this weak,” she said.

Basu further questioned the purpose of the years-long investigation if the entire recruitment was ultimately deemed invalid.

“SSC, which is our recruitment board, couldn’t submit the list of tainted and fair candidates. After 4 years of investigation, the SSC agrees with CBI’s list. In that list, our name wasn’t there. The list mentioned 5,000 candidates’ names, now suddenly the recruitment of 26,000 gets cancelled. What was the need for the investigation for all these years?” she asked, “I can see and smell politics behind this, and we are just scapegoats. There is an attempt to make it an issue.”