Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
Thousands of teachers, who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court verdict that invalidated their appointments, began a march from Karunamoyee in Salt Lake to the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) Bhawan on Friday demanding the release of their Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets to identify the genuine candidates.
Carrying placards demanding reinstatement, the protesters were joined by members of various civil society organisations in a show of solidarity.
"SSC should release the copies of the OMR sheets to help segregate the eligible teachers," a demonstrator said.
They claimed that the police officer accused of kicking teachers during a previous protest at the DI office in Kasba has now been assigned to investigate the cases registered against them.
"What can we expect from such a probe? In no civilised society does an accused investigate the victims," a protester remarked.
"Our agitation will continue till the SSC comes clean. Why they are withholding OMR sheets of tainted/untainted candidates? Had they furnished the exact figures to the Supreme Court and earlier Calcutta high court, our world would not have come crashing down," Suman Biswas, an agitating teacher of Nakasipara High School, whose job was also axed following the SC order, told reporters at the venue.
A large police contingent, including personnel from the Rapid Action Force, was deployed to prevent the rally from reaching the SSC Bhawan.
The Supreme Court last week declared the appointment of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staffers in state-run and state-aided schools as "vitiated and tainted".
