The state government will soon initiate steps to address the teacher recruitment issue in government-aided schools, newly appointed school education minister Dipak Barman said at a meeting of the BJP teachers’ cell on Tuesday.

“Required steps will be taken very soon following the school service commission rules, the order of the Supreme Court and the state government’s humane approach,” Barman said in his address at the National Library.

Barman said the government was “well aware” of the teacher recruitment processes, including the School Service Commission (SSC) selection tests held in 2016 and 2025, as well as the recruitment of non-teaching Group C and Group D staff.

The 2016 and 2025 selection tests were held during the tenure of the Mamata Banerjee government.

After the Supreme Court terminated the appointments of 17,209 teachers in government-aided secondary and higher secondary schools on April 3 last year, holding that the 2016 recruitment process was vitiated, a fresh teacher selection test was conducted in September last year.

“Once we resolve the recruitment issue, then the state government will initiate steps for the fresh teachers recruitment process,” Barman said.

“Many are of the view that the department is sitting quietly. But this is not correct. Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari is looking into the issue,” the minister added.

The Supreme Court in April last year mandated that over 35,000 teachers have to be recruited at the secondary and higher secondary levels by August 31 this year.

The recruitment process remains stalled as the SSC awaits legal opinion on whether the Bengal government’s decision to implement the 2010 OBC reservation norms—reducing the quota from 17% to 7% — would apply to the ongoing recruitment, an SSC official said.

The state Assembly on Monday passed a bill reducing the OBC reservation quota in Bengal from 17% to 7% and cutting the number of recognised OBC sub-castes from 179 to 66.