The representatives of the teaching job aspirants who have been holding an agitation for over 500 days off the Maidan alleging irregularities in the recruitment process of the teachers in government-aided schools, met education minister Bratya Basu at Bikash Bhavan on Monday.
They demanded that all those whose names feature on the waiting list (merit list) since appearing for the state-level selection tests in 2016, be recruited, said an official of the education department.
“We told the representatives that their demands would be looked into, factoring in what the law says on this. For this, we have to create numerical (additional) posts. We need permission from the finance department, the cabinet and the chief minister. We have told the school service commission to go through their demands and let us know how many new posts are required,” said Basu.
The additional posts were meant to be filled with candidates who had written the recruitment tests in 2016, said an official of the department.
A number of such candidates are holding a sit-in off the Maidan alleging that they were not being given jobs despite their names being on the waiting list of the panel.
“We had a positive discussion with the education minister. The department has already created 2,189 seats for Class IX, X, XI and XII. In addition to this, additional posts would have to be created to recruit those whose names feature on the merit list. The education minister told us he would speak to the concerned authorities,” Sahidullah, one of the representatives, said.
The test for the recruitment for the appointment of assistant teachers for Classes IX to XII was last held in November 2016.
In early May, Bratya Basu announced about creation of additional posts on humanitarian grounds following instructions from the chief minister.
“We have recommended (for recruitment) from the panel of waitlisted candidates both for teaching and non-teaching staff”, Basu said on May 5.
An official of the department said since the entire recruitment process has been mired in controversy following complaints of irregularities leading to the arrest of the former education minister Partha Chatterjee, they want to exercise caution.
