Calcutta: The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) will conduct fresh selection tests to appoint teachers at government-aided schools on September 7 and 14, commission chairman Siddhartha Majumdar announced on Thursday.

The state government approved these dates on Wednesday after the commission proposed them last week. Tests for secondary-level teachers will be held on September 7, while higher secondary-level recruitment exams will take place on September 14.

These selection tests mark the first teacher recruitment exercise in nine years. The fresh tests became necessary after the Supreme Court terminated all appointments made through the 2016 selection process in April, finding the recruitment “vitiated” and “tainted beyond recognition”.

The SSC received 5.8 lakh applications after the submission window closed on Monday.

The September dates were finalised to meet the Supreme Court’s December 31 deadline for completing the recruitment process. This deadline was set after the court cancelled 17,206 teaching positions on April 3 due to irregularities in the 2016 recruitment.

The court allowed 15,403 teachers who were “not specifically found to be tainted” to continue working with
salaries until December 31, but they must pass the fresh recruitment tests to retain their positions beyond that date.

“Although we have filed a petition with the state government seeking a review of the April 3 order, we don’t know when it will be heard. Whatever the Supreme Court says will be implemented,” SSC chairman Majumdar said.

Calcutta High Court last week cleared the way for the tests by allowing the SSC to use recruitment rules drafted on May 30 this year. The Supreme Court also upheld the order.

The new rules provide relaxation for in-service teachers, awarding them 10 marks each for prior teaching experience and lecture demonstrations in the 100-mark selection tests.

Petitioner Lubana Parvin, 37, said she would take the September tests despite her concerns about the relaxation policy. “I filed the petition because this relaxation was skewed against us. But now that the commission has announced the dates, we have no choice. We only hope the commission holds fair tests. In 2016, we cracked the written tests but didn’t get jobs because of irregularities that forced the Supreme Court to cancel the entire panel.”

On July 18, the SSC notified school and college heads about the likely test dates and requested campus availability for the examinations.