A section of dismissed teachers and non-teaching staff are back at the same spot where they had begun their protest a year ago.

Esplanade’s Y-channel was where they had started their protest after the Calcutta High Court verdict in April 2024, hoping for relief from the Supreme Court.

But a week-and-a-half ago, the apex court upheld the high court order terminating 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs.

The aggrieved teachers first sat outside the school service commission office in Salt Lake last week. Then they shifted to Mayo Road for a day, before coming to Y-channel on Saturday night.

A portion of Mayo Road near the Gandhi statue has now been occupied by a section of petitioners who claimed they, too, had suffered and had not got a fair chance because of the botched up recruitment process.

Metro spoke to aggrieved teachers and school staff on Sunday.

Sudeshna Mal

Sudeshna Mal taught Classes XI and XII at Pancharul Srihari Vidya Mandir in Howrah.

She has to pay a monthly EMI of ₹20,000 for an apartment she booked in Howrah recently.

She has no income now to repay her loan.

Sudeshna, 38, a postgraduate in education, was a guest faculty at two colleges in the city where she taught the subject to undergraduate students, before joining the Howrah school.

“People are showing us sympathy. But there is no empathy. Since the time the Supreme Court verdict came out, nobody has come to me offering a job, which is what I need. All I hear are sympathetic words. Nobody is trying to put themselves in our shoes,” Sudeshna said.

In January 2025, Sudeshna started giving ₹700 a month to a children’s fund that works for their welfare.

“As soon as I lost my job, I discontinued the monthly donation. I don’t know how I am going to pay my EMI, so how can I do any charity?” she asked.

On Sunday, she was at the Y-channel demonstration knowing well that she could not make it to the protest every day.

“I have a four-year-old daughter at home. I am so depressed and worried that I am unable to take proper care of her,” she said.

Bikram Polley

Bikram Polley was a Group C staff at Bilkua Saptagram High School in West Midnapore.

The work of the 31-year-old graduate in geography from Asutosh College comprised uploading marks of students and completing formalities for the implementation of
government schemes like Kanyashree.

While the clerical work was assigned to him because his post in 2018, when he joined the high school, Bikram also taught students of Classes V to VIII.

“There was a shortage of teachers in my school and so, I was asked to take classes. Being a geography graduate, I enjoyed taking classes. I would also correct their answer scripts,” Bikram said.

“But now all I do is sit here waiting for some piece of news, and it seems the wait is endless,” he said.

Bikram has a personal loan to repay.

“I took a loan of ₹3.5 lakh for my wedding expenses. You take a loan only when there is reassurance that you can repay it. But who knew even a government job would turn out to be so uncertain,” he said.

Swagata Saha

A former chemistry teacher at Baghbazar Multipurpose Girls’ School, Swagata Saha feels the botched up recruitment process has impacted her dignity.

“My husband is in government service and perhaps I will not be financially impacted as deeply as many others. But my dignity has been taken away,” she said.

“The street is not where I belong. I am supposed to be in the classroom teaching my students in Classes XI and XII,” she said.

Swagata had got a teaching job in primary and upper primary classes but chose higher secondary because of the “salary scale”.

On Sunday, she left her five-year-old son at home to participate in the protest at Esplanade.

“This is increasingly becoming traumatic and impacting my mental peace,” she said.

There is the option of going back to the previous government service, she said. “I got a job as a primary teacher on the basis of the teachers’ eligibility test in 2014, which is sub judice as well. What if I am unlucky twice?”

Sanjay Das

Sanjay Das’s father was a daily wage labourer, his younger brother a mason. It was Sanjay who had done his family proud by securing a government job.

The pride was short-lived.

The 37-year-old taught Bengali to students in Classes IX and X at Babu Domro High School in Jhargram.

A postgraduate in Bengali, Sanjay is not sure whether his certificates hold value anymore.

“My brother studied till Class VII but I went on to complete masters because I wanted to be a teacher and be in government service. But suddenly I am reduced to nothing. Getting a job in this day and age is not easy,” said the resident of Gopalnagar, North 24-Parganas.

Being at the protest site was more comforting than being at home or in his neighbourhood, Sanjay said.

“In the last few days, it has become difficult to even go to the tea stall outside my house. People I have known for so many years now seem to be suspicious of my qualifications and merit.”