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Over 2,000 teachers launched an indefinite sit-in protest outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) headquarters on Monday night, after the commission failed to release the list of 2016 SSC qualifiers whose jobs were annulled by the Supreme Court. The list was due by 6 pm but never arrived, sparking outrage.
Clashes erupted between the protestors and police as angry teachers attempted to breach barricades around the SSC office, accusing the commission of ignoring the plight of those recruited after the third round of counselling—deemed invalid by the SSC’s internal review.
In a late-night statement, SSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said the commission would comply with the Supreme Court’s April 3 verdict and confirmed that teachers who had rendered services would be paid as per the existing system. However, no clarity was given on the full list of candidates declared “untainted.”
The agitating teachers, many of whom had marched earlier from Karunamoyee to the SSC headquarters at Wipro Crossing, demanded the resignation of Chairman Majumdar and Education Minister Bratya Basu. They also surrounded Derozio Bhavan, blocking exit routes of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President Ramanuj Ganguly.
A 13-member delegation met Majumdar in a closed-door meeting that lasted for several hours, but failed to yield a resolution. The protest, meanwhile, continued into the night.
The West Bengal Junior Doctors Front extended support to the protestors, calling for justice for the terminated staff. The April 3 Supreme Court ruling had scrapped the entire 2016 recruitment panel, impacting nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching employees in state-run schools due to procedural irregularities.
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