Teachers will return to school but demanded that the government terminate the tainted, so their honour is no longer at stake.
The return to school should be “with dignity”, something that the April 3 Supreme Court order stripped them of.
“The apex court said on Thursday that deserving teachers should return to school. We want the state secondary education board to terminate those who are tainted and undeserving, so that no one can cast aspersions on our credibility,” said Samsur Sheikh. He was a Bengali teacher at Khanyadihi P.K. Higher Secondary School.
But the dagger still hangs over them, and the court wants them to write a fresh selection test. So the fight will continue.
“We will go to school, but we have to keep up our fight because this order only brings temporary relief,” said Dhitish Mondal, a spokesperson for the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum. “We are yet to decide how we will continue with the protests. We will consult other members before we create a roadmap on how we will continue.”
One question hung over the protest site at Esplanade’s Y-channel after the Supreme Court hearing — What next?
The school service commission (SSC) will have to complete the fresh recruitment process by December 31, which means the deserving teachers will have to write the exam again.
“How many times can an individual write the same exam?” asked Smriti Mondal, who used to teach English at a school in West Burdwan.
“The court has asked the deserving to return to school. If we are deserving, why should we write an exam again?” asked Sanjay Das, a Bengali teacher sacked from Babu Domro High School in Jhargram.
One teacher quietly took out a math exercise book from her bag. “If the court asks the state government to conduct an exam, the government will implement the order and then perhaps all of us would have to appear for an exam, whether we want it or not,” she said. She used to teach math at a school in South 24-Parganas.
But while there was some breather for the teachers, a section of non-teaching staff said they had been overlooked.
“We have been discriminated against. The court has allowed teachers to go back to school, but there has been no respite for us. There are deserving staff amongst us as well,” said Bapi Mondal, 48.
Mondal was a non-teaching employee at a West Midnapore school. “My primary work was to ring the bell and open the gate. But because of a teacher shortage... I would take physical education or other classes at the junior level,” he said.
Representatives of the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum held a news conference in the evening.
“We have to be reinstated... We are not budging from that demand,” said Brindaban Ghosh, a Forum spokesperson.
“We want to say that the list of deserving and undeserving has to be clear, and those who are not tainted have to be certified as such. Their names should be uploaded on the SSC website by April 21.”
Mehboob Mondal of the Forum said they were preparing to file a review petition in the Supreme Court, appealing that the jobs of the deserving candidates be reinstated.