Teachers deemed eligible to take classes until December 31 and draw their salaries shifted their protest to Shahid Minar after the other group allegedly beat them up in front of the school service commission’s office in Salt Lake on Thursday night.
The seat of protest in Salt Lake, which was occupied by the teachers over the past few days, was taken over by thousands of sacked teaching and non-teaching staff who have to return the salaries they have drawn so far. This group has formed the United Teaching and Non-Teaching Forum.
The members of the new forum occupied the space around the SSC office on Friday, displacing the handful of members of the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum that represented the “not specifically tainted” teachers.
Of the 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff sacked by the Supreme Court on April 3, 15,403 teachers have been identified by the state as “not specifically found to be tainted”.
On April 17, the court allowed them to return to school for now but did not extend the same relief to the rest — teachers and group C and D staff.
Sudarshan Mishra, a spokesperson for the new forum, accused the other group of breaking ranks. “We did not beat them up. They created a division between the teaching and non-teaching staff. Then they created a further division among the teachers. Although our salaries have been frozen, they are not bothered.”
Mishra used to teach at a secondary school in Barasat, North 24-Parganas.
“We don’t know why they have shifted their protest to Shahid Minar. Our names featured among the 4,091 teachers the CBI had accused of OMR mismatch. But the Supreme Court has not accepted the findings of the CBI. Then why was our salary stopped?” asked Prasun Biswas, who used to teach at a school in Hooghly’s Serampore.
“It is unfortunate that those who have been allowed to go to school and draw salaries till December 31 are not supporting our case.”
The clash between the tainted and the “not specifically tainted” took place late on Thursday in front of the SSC office.
“A group of tainted teaching and non-teaching staff came and attacked one of our spokespersons. We had to shift our base as we don’t want any tussle before the review petition,” said Anupam Sasmal, a protester at Shahid Minar.
Amid the turf war, the state government on Friday appointed a new secretary at the SSC. The post had been vacant for the past two years.
“At a time when the SSC has been asked to carry out a fresh recruitment process to fill the vacancies arising out of the en masse termination, a secretary has been appointed to assist the chairperson,” said an education department official.
A delegation of the sacked non-teaching staff met education minister Bratya Basu at Bikash Bhavan on Friday afternoon. They sought to know from Basu how they would survive without their salaries.
Education department sources said Basu told them the state government would soon file a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking a modification of the April 17 order.