Thousands of teachers and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs because of the Supreme Court ruling hit the streets across Bengal on Wednesday and resorted to protests and road blockades, seeking a clarification from the Mamata Banerjee government about the future of their jobs.
In most districts, the affected teachers and non-teaching employees walked up to their respective offices of the district inspector (DI) of schools and submitted memorandums. They also blocked highways in some locations, shouting slogans against the state.
The protests, which prompted the administrations in the districts to depute police personnel to prevent breach of law and order, were witnessed within 48 hours of the chief minister's public asserted that none of them would lose their jobs.
In Siliguri, hundreds of teachers and non-teaching staff staged a gherao outside the DI of schools. The protest, led by affected individuals and supported by various teachers, saw the participants sitting on the road for hours, demanding justice and reinstatement.
Chinmoy Mehta, a teacher at Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar High School, said: “It has been seven years since I joined the school. My hometown is in Balurghat but as I have been living in Siliguri, I have transferred all my documents to this address. I have bank loans to pay.... The state education department should shed light on our future.”
Sayangam Bhowal, a physics teacher at a school who lost his job and fighting blood cancer, said they had not committed any crime but are still being punished. “It is the state’s failure. The number is more than 25,000, as our family members are dependent on us,” he said.
In Barasat of North 24-Parganas, the agitating teachers locked three entrances of the regional office of the School Service Commission (SSC), demanding publication of the mirror copies of OMR sheets of candidates who had appeared for the 2016 recruitment test held by the SSC, which was declared tainted in the apex court.
Tension escalated as police tried to remove the protesters, leading to a scuffle. Additional police forces were rushed to the spot. At one point, the agitating teachers locked the gates from inside, preventing the police from entering. The cops were eventually forced to break open the gates to enter the SSC office premises.
After prolonged talks, senior police officers managed to disperse the agitating teachers from the SSC office.
A similar protest erupted in Krishnanagar, Nadia, where the teachers gheraoed the office of the DI of schools for nearly three hours, asking for the OMR mirror copies.
Later, the protesters held a rally and gathered near PWD More in Krishnanagar, where they blocked NH12 for some 90 minutes from 3pm.
The agitation also spread to Ranaghat and Krishnanagar, where members of the BJP and the SUCI staged separate demonstrations, echoing the demand for OMR mirror copies.
In Jalpaiguri, the teachers staged a road blockade on NH27 for some time. The police managed to disperse them.
A couple of hundred teachers took out a “funeral procession of the SSC” and marched through the Midnapore town.
In Malda, around 500 teachers who have lost their jobs resorted to protests. They took a rally to the office of the DI of schools and locked the office. Police officers reached the spot and asked the protesters to unlock the gate. As the teachers refused to, the police broke open the lock. Later, the teachers alleged that some police officers had misbehaved with them. The law enforcers, however, denied the charge.
In Cooch Behar, the protesting teachers jostled with the police as they breached a barricade to enter the office of the DI of schools. During the jostle, two teachers fell ill.
Supporters of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the CPM students’ front, conducted rallies in Howrah and Barasat, blaming the state government for the crisis.