The school service commission (SSC) has deferred the selection tests to shortlist candidates for the appointment of non-teaching staff at government-aided schools to February.

In an advertisement seeking online applications for Group C and Group D staff at the secondary (Classes IX and X) and higher secondary (Classes XI and XII) levels, the commission had earlier said the selection tests would be held in January. The exact dates were not announced.

“We will not be able to hold the selection tests in January. The selection tests will be held in February,” the commission’s chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar told Metro on Friday.

Around 16 lakh candidates have applied for the posts from November 1 to December 12, during which the online application window was open.

On April 3, the Supreme Court not only terminated the employment of 17,209 teachers but also dismissed 9,542 Group C and Group D staff on the same grounds — specifically, a recruitment process conducted by the SSC in 2016 that was deemed “vitiated” and “tainted beyond redemption”.

The fresh selection tests will be held to fill the vacancies arising out of the termination of non-teaching posts.

The tests to shortlist candidates for 35,000 teaching posts were held in September.

An SSC official said, although the commission had given a month-long window starting November 1 to apply online for the Group C and Group D posts, the deadline was extended to December 12 as some candidates “faced difficulties” during the application.

The Supreme Court on Thursday extended the deadline for the schoolteacher recruitment process in Bengal from December 31 to August 31 next year, paving the way for the thousands of “untainted” to continue in service for another eight months.

Numerous petitions submitted to the high court are obstructing the timely completion of the recruitment process by December 31. Thus the secondary education board, SSC, and the school education department requested the apex court to extend the deadline.

Amit Mandal, a representative for a forum of non-teaching employees, stated that no one is acknowledging the plight of the non-teaching staff.

“Although the state government had proposed a monthly allowance of ₹25,000 for each sacked Group C staff and ₹20,000 for each sacked Group D staff till they had been reemployed, the proposal was stayed by Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court. Many of us are now working as delivery boys to sustain our families,” said Mandal.

On April 17, the Supreme Court directed the SSC to conduct a new selection process for the appointment of teachers. It stated that teachers who were dismissed but were “not specifically found to be tainted” will remain employed with their salaries until December.