The school service commission will hold a State Level Selection Test (SLST) to appoint 2,989 Group C (clerks) and 5,488 Group D staff (peons) — “indicative number of vacancies” — at the secondary and higher secondary levels of government-aided schools.

The SSC, which is scheduled to hold fresh selection tests on September 7 and 14 to appoint assistant teachers at the same levels, on Friday came up with a notification announcing its drive to appoint the non-teaching staff.

The dates for these selection tests are yet to be announced.

A notification uploaded on the commission’s website says: “In compliance with the order of the Supreme Court dated 3rd April, 2025, the West Bengal School Service Commission is commencing selection process to the posts of non-teaching staff in recognized government-aided schools.”

The notification says candidates can apply on the commission’s website from September 16 to October 31. The fees may be deposited up to October 31.

The detailed notification and programme will be available on the commission website from August 31.

On April 3, the Supreme Court terminated the jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff because their recruitment in 2016 by the SSC was “vitiated”. Of the 25,753, the number of terminated teachers was 17,206. The rest were non-teaching staff.

On Saturday, an SSC official said: “The Supreme Court had asked the SSC to complete the fresh selection process for the appointment of teachers by December 31. However, the apex court did not set the SSC any deadline for the appointment of the non-teaching staff. Still, as the sacked non-teaching staff are not receiving any salaries, we are trying to hold the recruitment tests at the earliest,” said an SSC official.

The SSC will award marks for “experience” to the sacked Group C and D employees who take the fresh selection tests.

An SSC official said the government decided to award marks for experience so the sacked staff got an edge in the fresh selection process.