One moment, there was an urge to keep up the fight, and the next was despair.
It was a usual scene at Esplanade’s Y-channel on Wednesday, where a section of teachers and non-teaching staff dismissed from government-aided schools have been holding a sit-in protest since Saturday night.
The protest had started at Salt Lake outside the school service commission’s office on April 9 and shifted to Mayo Road for a day before moving to the Y-channel.
Teachers far away from their homes narrated their plight to Metro.
Habibullah, 36
Habibullah and his wife have both lost their jobs.
But on Wednesday, Habibullah was trying to breathe hope into an exhausted and dejected group of teachers and non-teaching staff sitting at the Y-channel.
“We need to occupy the streets in large numbers instead of losing hope and returning home. We should compel the administration to take note of us,” he said on the loudhailer.
“We have to make ourselves heard. Nobody will listen to us if we cry within the confines of our homes. We have to be in Calcutta and Delhi, in large numbers, to sustain our fight that would restore our jobs and dignity,” he said.
Habibullah taught English in Classes IX and X at Nowpara Junior High School in Berhampore. He is a postgraduate from West Bengal State University (Barasat).
Habibullah has been in the city since April 5, two days after the Supreme Court’s verdict terminating the jobs of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching employees.
“I have not gone back home in the last 12 days. Both my wife and I have lost our jobs. But that does not mean we will lose hope. We were not wrong, but we have been wronged,” he said.
His wife, Najma Mondal, taught life science to Classes IX and X at Saktipur KMC Girls High School in Murshidabad.
Payel Bairagya, 31,
Kunal Chatterjee, 33
Payel Bairagya was the teacher-in-charge of Sompara Girls’ High School in Murshidabad’s Beldanga block.
A postgraduate in physics from Burdwan University, Bairagya was entrusted with the responsibility of a teacher-in-charge twice, first for seven months in 2022 and the next time from October 2024 to March 2025.
“The school education department must have made me the teacher-in-charge because of my academic and organisational skills and credibility. But what must my former colleagues be thinking now? Not just my job but my reputation has been taken away, too,” Bairagya said.
Bairagya’s younger brother is preparing for competitive exams and a governmentservice.
“With examples like me and his brother-in-law in the family, he understands that even a government service has no security,” she said.
Bairagya’s husband, Kunal Chatterjee, was a math teacher at Dopukuria High School.
Chatterjee, MSc in mathematics from Burdwan University, taught students in Classes IX and X.
“We have a loan of ₹5 lakh and the responsibility ofmy aunt, who is bedridden and needs 24-hour help,”said Chatterjee.
“People are either sympathising with us or doubting us. We don’t deserve either,” he said.
Shampita Nayek, 41
A government job since 2019 had changed Shampa Nayak’s lifestyle.
Nayak could spend a little more on herself and her daughter.
“We work for a livelihood and also to improve our living standards. As a mother,I have some plans for my daughter’s education and future. Without a well-paying job, like the one I used to have, how can I think of these things?” she asked.
Nayek and her daughter, who studies in Class VII, live in Krishnanagar while the rest of her family stays at Memari in East Burdwan.
She is an MSc in botany from Burdwan University.
“My daughter goes to a private school. Additionally, she goes for private training in singing, painting and badminton. I cannot suddenly discontinue all these activities she does,” said Nayek.
Nayek taught life scienceto students of Classes IX and X at Mahakhola Bidhan Vidyapith High School in Nadia’s Chapra block.
“It was not easy to get this job. I had worked hardfor it. My Class X and XII marks were considered, and I had to prepare to beable to crack the exam. How can everything that I’ve done so far be questioned?” she asked.
