A group of teaching and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs following a recent Supreme Court judgment began a relay hunger strike today, Thursday, April 10, outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) office in Salt Lake, Kolkata. They are demanding justice, reinstatement, and a clear distinction between “genuine” and “tainted” candidates.
Armed with OMR sheets and a deep sense of betrayal, the protesters, some of whom spent Wednesday night, April 9, outside the SSC office building Acharya Sadan, say they are fighting not just unemployment but an unjust system that failed to defend the innocent.
On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the annulment of over 25,000 appointments made through the 2016 SSC recruitment process, declaring the entire process “vitiated and tainted.” But those now left jobless argue that the state failed to protect those who were innocent.
“We have literally come on the roads,” Krishnagopal, one of the protesting teachers said, speaking to EdexLive. "We only demand that we get our jobs back. We will file a review petition in the Supreme Court after submitting the verified legal documents, which we urge the SSC and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to release."
Manhandling ensues
Tensions escalated further after an alleged police lathi-charge outside the district inspector of schools' office in Kasba on April 9. Teachers claimed they were beaten, kicked, and falsely accused while protesting peacefully.
“The police are supposed to investigate crimes, not attack educated teachers who are peacefully protesting for their hard-earned jobs,” Krishnagopal added. “This treatment is not at all justified.”
Former Calcutta High Court judge and Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament (BJP MP) Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who, as a judge, had earlier ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the recruitment scam, joined the protesters, blaming the state government for the crisis.
“Cases have been lodged against innocent teachers who lost their jobs for the illegal acts of others,” he told PTI.
Protesters allege that the School Service Commission failed to differentiate between those who secured jobs through unfair means and those who did not, a failure that, they say, has led to mass suffering.
“Why did the Supreme Court cancel the whole recruitment?” asked another protester, Biswas. “Because around 6,000 recruitments were found illegal. However, the total number recruited was 25,752. What about the rest of us?”
Biswas blamed the SSC for not presenting a strong enough case in court. “That job, earned through years of hard work, was taken from us because a few bad apples were in the sack,” he said.
He also criticised Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s recent address to affected teachers. “She told us to give exams again or do voluntary jobs but didn’t talk about actual redressal. We’re not here for false hopes.”
The teachers are now demanding the publication of separate lists identifying “genuine” and “tainted” candidates, based on their OMR sheets, and the filing of a review petition in the Supreme Court to restore jobs for those wrongly terminated.
“We have no political agenda,” Biswas insisted. “We’re just teachers demanding what’s right. Let the SSC, the CM, and the appointment board come together and fix this. Otherwise, not just us who will suffer, but schools in rural Bengal will be left with one or two teachers. The situation is already dire.”
What began as a sit-in has now turned into a full-blown hunger strike. With support from some political leaders and growing public sympathy, the teachers’ fight for justice appears to be far from over.
