Police staff on Monday stopped the demonstrators on the March of the State Secretariat in Calcutta. | Photo Credit: Debasish Bhaduri
Poll
Thousands of teaching and uninterested employees of the West Bengal Government Schools, whose jobs were terminated after the order of the Supreme Court 3. April, marched on Monday to the State Secretariat. Although they were stopped in the middle, it was allowed to meet the main secretary Manoj Pant on the Howrah police line in Shibpur.
Monday March came in response to the Commission for School Services of West Bengal, which launched a new recruitment process according to the Top Court order. The last date of the application for filing was to end on Monday, but WBSSC expanded it to 21 July.
Close safety measures have been taken between the secretariat and the surrounding areas. The contingent of the police and rapid action forces (RAF), armed with water cannons, was deployed to stop the protesters. They shot with the police in several places and tried to cross the barricades.
According to the representatives of “Joggya Sikkhak Sikkhika Adhikar Mancha” (deserves the forum of teachers’ rights), they did not fulfill the form for fresh recruitment. “The government is standing next to people who have been dishonestly gaining employment through money, and those who deserved it through merit are deprived and ignored. This is a pity of administration,” said Chinmoy Mondal, JSSAM representative during the march.
Demonstrators demanded that the government published the OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) tests and a complete list of “unsuccessful” candidates and unconditional renewal of their employment.
“The main secretary and Minister of Education were present at the meeting. But the meeting remained inconclusive,” said Mehboob Mondal, JSSAM representative.
Demonstrators said that the main secretary gave them only 10 minutes to discuss this issue, and the government carries out its own internal meetings with representatives. Teachers argued that access to the list of stunned and relentless teachers is their right and is not a “flight” of the government. They also committed to boycotting all internal meetings unless any specific solutions to publish the list of “tireless” denominators are reached on Monday midnight.
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition of Suvend Adhikari wrote a letter focused on social media teachers and said BJP is standing. “Today, your challenge to campaign has remained unfulfilled … Mamata Banerjee knows very well how to distract your movement by fraud and false promises,” Mr. Adhikari wrote on X.
In response to the spokesman of Trinamool Congress, Kunal Ghosh, he said that political parties are trying to use teachers to politics. “The state government is trying in its own way. We are with deserved teachers,” said Mr. Ghosh.
Published – July 15, 2025 12:59 PM
