Hundreds of dismissed schoolteachers, marching to Nabanna on Monday, were stopped by police several kilometres ahead of the state secretariat.

The march to Nabanna, which started a little after noon from Howrah station, was stopped within a couple of kilometres, near Howrah’s Mullick Phatak.

The administration had put up large barriers to restrict the sacked teachers from proceeding.

Around 4pm, a representation of 18 teachers met with state chief secretary Manoj Pant, director general of police Rajeev Kumar, and officials of the education department.

But the stalemate continued even after the meeting, and the sacked teachers occupied a portion of GT Road until 7.30pm. Normalcy was restored around 8pm and the police removed the barricades.

Segregation sought

The teachers demanded that the government publish a list of “tainted” and “untainted” teachers of the 2016 State-Level Selection Test by Monday night, something they have been pressing for a long time.

They withdrew their protest a couple of hours after the meeting with the government, but promised to come back with a “larger agitation” if their demands were not fulfilled.

The protesting teachers said they were firm in their decision not to write the fresh recruitment test to be conducted by the school service commission (SSC). The test is tentatively scheduled in the first week of September. Qualifying in the fresh recruitment exercise would enable them to retain their jobs beyond December.

“We want the government to publish the list of tainted and untainted teachers by tonight. Why is the government hesitating to publish this list?” said Chinmoy Mondal, a leader of the Deserving Teachers’ Rights Forum, one of the organisations taking part in Monday’s protest.

“We are withdrawing our agitation tonight, but we will announce our plans later. If our demands are not met, we will come back with a bigger agitation,” said Mondal.

“If the government is not publishing the list, the chief minister should tell us why,” said Suman Biswas, another protesting teacher.

Legal backdrop

The Supreme Court, in its April 3 order, dismissed 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited to government-aided schools in Bengal, citing manipulation and
cover-up.

In another order on April 17, the apex court allowed the sacked but “not specifically found tainted” teachers to continue in their posts till December 31. The fresh hiring process is to be completed by then. The bench had said the fresh recruitment process should start by May 31.

The Supreme Court in its orders did not mention
the term “untainted”. All it said was that there are two
categories — the tainted and the not specifically found tainted.

Education Minister Bratya Basu had said that the government has been directed to conduct a fresh recruitment test, but the court order did not ask them to publish any list of candidates.

The Supreme Court, which reopened after the summer break on July 14, is due to hear petitions filed by the state and the SSC, seeking a review of the April 3 sack order.