Bengal’s education secretariat has again become a hub of protests.

Dismissed teaching and non-teaching school employees atop Bikash Bhavan on Thursday evening. Pictures by Sanat Kr Sinha

Metro compiles some of the key demands of the sacked teachers and school staff and what the Supreme Court and the state government have said about them.

No exam

We will not sit for any exam, the protesters said in one voice.

“We have learnt that the state government and the school service commission have prepared the modalities of the recruitment exam without consulting us. Apparently, the notification is also ready. We have been teaching for seven years without any blemish. But we still lost our jobs. The state government and the SSC are responsible for what happened to us. Why should we take another test?” asked Mehboob Mondal, leader of the Forum for Deserving Teachers.

On April 17, the apex court permitted teachers “not specifically found to be tainted” to continue working until
December. The same day, the Supreme Court said the fresh recruitment process must start by May 31.

The state government and the SSC have to submit compliance affidavits in the top court by May 31. The government or the SSC have not yet issued a notification for fresh recruitment. As the date nears, the teachers are increasingly
jittery.

Talk to us

The teachers and non-teaching staff alleged that the government did not keep its word on consulting their representatives before filing the review petition in the Supreme Court.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had promised to do so at a Netaji Indoor Stadium meeting. “But we suddenly saw that the review petition was filed secretly, unilaterally, in the dead of the night,” said Mondal. He said the protesters “will not allow” the government to come out with any notification for fresh recruitment without consulting them. Told that the Supreme Court had asked them to do so, Mondal said: “We have to be consulted before any notification comes out. We have our lawyers.”

The Bengal government has sought a review of the apex court’s April 3 order that terminated the school staff en masse.

Police ask protesters to calm down at Bikash Bhavan on Thursday evening. Protesters climb a gate of Bikash Bhavan during the gherao on Thursday afternoon

Many of the points raised by the protesting teachers have found a place in the petition. The court failed to appreciate that over 18,000 candidates “not specifically found tainted” have also been made to suffer “for the alleged illegality committed by the SSC in the selection process in respect of certain other tainted candidates,” the state government’s petition says.

It says if the court had examined the authenticity of the data submitted by the CBI, the segregation of the tainted from the untainted would have been possible with “a greater degree of certainty” and the jobs of candidates “not specifically found tainted could have been saved”.

Non-teaching staff

“The demands of the non-teaching staff have not been met so far. They have not received any honorarium,” Mondal said.

Another protester said: “The review petitions have left out the non-teaching staff. This is a step-motherly attitude.”

• Where things stand: On April 17, the apex court permitted teachers “not specifically found to be tainted” to continue working till December but refused to extend a similar relief to the non-teaching staff, citing “substantially high” irregularities in their recruitment.

The state government’s review petition, however, speaks for the non-teaching staff. The petition says all appointed candidates, “including non-teaching staff not found to be tainted”, be allowed to continue in service until the fresh hiring process is concluded.

The chief minister on Wednesday announced that the promised monthly allowance for sacked Group C and D employees of government-aided schools would be disbursed with effect from April 1.The terminated Group Cand D employees will get ₹25,000 and ₹20,000 per month, respectively.

11am: Bidhannagar police start to cordon the periphery of Bikash Bhavan, which houses the offices of the state school education department, apprehending an unlawful gathering. A large police contingent is posted.

Noon: Several hundred teachers and school staff under the banner of West Bengal Deserving Rights Forum gather outside Bikash Bhavan, demanding a meeting with education minister Bratya Basu.

12.15pm: Protesters start pushing the first layer of barricades and break through it, toppling the fence and trampling over it.

12.30pm: Pressure builds as the protesters start pushing the main gate of the Bikash Bhavan compound. Some protesters, including women, try to climb over the 7ft-high gate. As the pressure mounts, half of the gate is ripped off its hinges, and some protesters manage to unbolt the other half by inserting their hands through the gap between the two gates. Seconds later, the gates open with a loud clang. Decorative garden lights and planters outside the building are smashed.

12.45pm: The police try to stop the protesters from rushing into the compound. They use cane shields to push the crowd, but the intruders outnumber those in uniform Senior officers, including Bidhannagar police commissioner Mukesh and deputy commissioner (Bidhannagar) Aneesh Sarkar, use loudhailers requesting the crowd to stay calm and not take the law into their own hands. The angry protesters shout “go back”.

12.45pm: Protesters rush into the compound but fail to enter the building because by then the shutters to the main building’s entrance had been downed. Protesters push the shutters and bang on them, apparently with the intention of breaking into the building.

12.50pm: Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation chairman Sabyasachi Dutta and his associates enter the compound from gate three but are immediately gheraoed by angry protesters, leading to a scuffle between the two sides. Dutta is forced to leave with police protection.

1pm: All gates of the compound are closed. The protesters put padlocks on all the gates and take charge of the entire compound, holding several state government employees who have offices in the building hostage.

1.30pm: Representatives of the protesters announce that they are giving the chief minister a deadline of one-and-a-half hours to resolve the matter.

1.45pm: Protesters smash the windowpanes of a land registration office on the ground floor.

3.30pm: Representatives of the protesting school staff announce that they are strictly against the government issuing any notification to initiate a fresh recruitment process and that they are not ready to appear for any exam.

4.30pm: The protesting teachers hold a press conference at the gates of Bikash Bhavan, iterating their demands.

6pm: Some of the confined employees request the protesters to let them out and fresh tension builds up. The sacked employees gather in numbers in front of the locked gates so no one can leave.

7pm: The confined employees from different floors of Bikash Bhavan look out of the balcony to take stock of the assembly. A leader of the protesters tells those stuck inside: “We will allow food and water. But we won’t let you go home until and unless our demands are met.”

8pm: The police start using force to push back the protesters. Some of the government employees who were trapped inside are escorted out. A large section of them remained trapped as the crowd turns violent and refuses to budge.

9pm: Fresh scuffles between the police and the agitators. The police are accused of beating up the protesters. TV footage shows many of them smeared with blood.

9.15pm: A second batch of employees locked inside Bikash Bhavan are seen running out through the police cordon. Many more remain trapped.

Reporting by Monalisa Chaudhuri and Subhankar Chowdhury