Hundreds of jobless school teachers in West Bengal continued their protest for the third consecutive day on Saturday outside the state Education Department’s headquarters, demanding reinstatement after the Supreme Court invalidated their appointments last month.
The protesters, many of whom had cleared the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) examination, lost their jobs after the apex court declared the recruitment process for 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-aided schools as “vitiated and tainted.” In response, nearly 1,000 affected teachers have been staging a sit-in protest in front of Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake, with many spending the night at the protest site.
“We spent the night peacefully outside Bikash Bhavan. Police were present but did not interfere. Our demand is simple — we want our jobs back. We did nothing wrong. The system failed us,” said Chinmoy Mondal, a protesting teacher and a leader of the teachers’ forum.
Mondal also called for wider support, urging fellow educators, civil society members, and the public to join the movement and amplify their demand for a dialogue with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Adding political momentum to the protest, senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari visited the protest site on Friday. Expressing solidarity with the dismissed teachers, Adhikari pledged full support from the BJP and warned of political consequences if the issue is not addressed in the upcoming state assembly session.
“Our party stands with you. You have lost your livelihoods due to the rampant corruption of the ruling government. If they try to block discussions on this issue in the assembly session next month, we won’t let the session proceed,” Adhikari told the protesting teachers.
He further stated that BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar would also visit the protest site in the coming days, and promised to spend an entire night with the demonstrators to underline the party’s commitment.
The teachers remain firm on their demand for immediate legal action from the state government to restore their employment. The protest is expected to intensify in the coming days as no official response has yet been issued by the Education Department or the Chief Minister’s Office.
Sources By Agencies
