The school service commission (SSC) has published the final answer key based on which the scripts of the teacher selection test for the secondary level (Classes IX and X) were assessed late on Tuesday. The results were announced on Monday.

A teaching job aspirant can tally the final answer key with the duplicate of the optical mark recognition (OMR) sheet on which the answers were bubbled and the score they have been awarded in the 60-mark test.

Candidates can contact the commission by Thursday if they detect discrepancies after going through the final answer key. The commission uploaded the answer key for the higher secondary level (Classes XI and XII) on the day of the results, November 7.

The SSC is scheduled to publish the preliminary list of candidates who will be called for interviews for Class IX and X jobs after December 4.

Officials said that till then, the SSC will be occupied with document verification for candidates to be called for
interviews for Class XI and XII jobs. The interviews for candidates for Bengali and English at the Plus-II level started on Wednesday. The interview schedule for the 10 remaining subjects at the Plus-II level will be announced later.

The commission is likely to publish the list of “tainted candidates” barred from taking part in the selection tests by this weekend, following an order from the high court.

“The commission is committed to carrying out a transparent process. The recruitment rules do not mandate a window to report the discrepancies after the publication of the final answer keys. Still, we are allowing this to be as transparent as possible,” an SSC official said.

The tests — the State Level Selection Test (SLST) — were held on September 7 and 14.

The September 7 test was to shortlist candidates for the appointment of 23,212 secondary-level teachers. The September 14 test was to fill 12,454 teacher post vacancies at the higher secondary level of government-aided schools.

The tests were mandated by the Supreme Court, which on April 3 terminated the jobs of 17,206 teachers after finding the 2016 SSC exams “tainted beyond redemption”.

The Supreme Court allowed 15,304 sacked but not specifically found to be tainted (later designated as untainted) to continue in schools
till December and asked them to participate in the fresh selection exercise to retain their jobs.

In all, 1,806 tainted candidates were barred from participating in the fresh tests. The list of such candidates is likely to be published this week.

“When the commission published the preliminary interview list for the higher secondary level on November 15, it emerged that four tainted candidates had made it to the list. Hearing a case against the inclusion of such candidates last week, Justice
Amrita Sinha ordered that the SSC must publish the list of tainted candidates with the relevant details,” an official said.

“The commission is now concentrating on publishing a flawless preliminary interview list for the secondary level,” the official added.