Many of the protesting schoolteachers labelled “not specifically tainted” and allowed to return to school till December are beginning to reconcile themselves to the fact that they may have to write a fresh recruitment test to retain their jobs beyond December 31.
These teachers have been staging a sit-in outside Bikash Bhavan since May 7, demanding that they not be made to write a fresh test. They are now arguing for more relaxations in the fresh process, for which the school service commission is about to issue a notification.
In its April 17 order, the Supreme Court allowed relief to teachers “not specifically found tainted” but said they can only be given age relaxation if they write the fresh test. The state government and the SSC have to submit an affidavit on the fresh process by May 31.
Sangita Saha, a spokesperson for the Deserving Teachers’ Right Forum that has been spearheading the protests, said: “If we are to write the fresh recruitment test in the worst-case scenario, we will look for relaxations apart from that on the age bar. Age relaxation cannot be enough. We should be awarded substantial marks based on the period we have worked as teachers. Our experience must be given some weightage.”
She said they want to discuss these additional relaxations in a meeting with education minister Bratya Basu. The Forum wrote to Basu on May 21 seeking a meeting.
A teacher said the apex court is going to hear review petitions filed by the state government and the SSC on the en masse termination of 25,573 teaching and non-teaching staff when the court reopens in June after summer vacation.
“We are aware of the reality that we may have to write the test to retain our jobs beyond December,” he said.
“The chances of the judgment being changed are slim, which is the case with any review petition. So, it appears that we have to get ready to write the test. We want more relief to be offered to us for our teaching experience.”
The teachers want to discuss with the government the likely course if the review pleas filed by the state and the SSC are rejected by the Supreme Court.
The government, in its review petition, has contended that the apex court failed to appreciate that over 18,000 candidates “not specifically found tainted” have also been made to suffer “for the alleged illegality by the SSC in the selection process in respect of certain other tainted candidates”.
The SSC, in its plea, has contended that when it was possible to segregate the tainted candidates, it was not clear why the apex court ordered the cancellation of the entire selection process.
Basu is yet to respond to the meeting request from the teachers.
Mirajul Hossain, a maths teacher at a city school, said if they had to write the test, they would do so with a heavy heart.
“When the apex court could identify a section of the school staff as tainted based on the evidence produced by the CBI and bar them from returning to school, it is not clear why it could not identify the untainted. We have been denied natural justice. Right now, it seems we have to write the test to retain our jobs. In that case, we want the state government to give us marks based on our experience as teachers,” said Hossain.
He said they want the government to let only the 22 lakh candidates who had written the State Level Selection Test (for teacher jobs) and Regional Level Selection Test (RLST) in 2016 write the test again.
The SSC is likely to come up with the fresh hiring notification after May 27, so it can submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court on initiating the recruitment process by May 31.
The notification will clarify if only 22 lakh candidates would take the test or if fresh candidates, too, would be allowed to write it.
Chinmoy Mondal, a joint convener of the Forum, said: “Even if the SSC comes up with the notification, it must say that processing it would be subject to the outcome of the review petitions.”
