Teachers did not turn up at many schools on Tuesday as the protests outside the school service commission’s office in Salt Lake continued.

Many of the sacked schoolteachers had returned to classes on Saturday after the Supreme Court allowed the “not specifically tainted” teachers to conduct classes till December 31.

However, the teachers stayed away from classrooms on the first two days of the week after the government failed to identify those not specifically tainted, thus casting a shadow on academics in state-aided schools.

The schools reviewed the situation and made temporary arrangements to tackle the crisis, at least until April 30, when the summer holidays start.

“When teachers returned to school on Saturday, we were relieved, thinking that classes would no longer suffer, but there is an impasse again. In a school like ours, with 1,200 students and three sections in every class, it is difficult to manage or provide substitutes,” said Raja Dey, headmaster of Mitra Institution (Bhowanipore).

The school lost a math and a Bengali teacher who taught Classes V to X.

“Both teachers had five periods a day, their absence made a huge impact. Even if we send a substitute, finding a teacher for the particular subject (math or Bengali) will be difficult. We might send a geography teacher to take classes because the math teacher is not free,” said Dey.

At Tiljala Balika Vidyalaya in Kasba, three teachers — one taught chemistry in higher secondary and the other two taught math in Classes IX and X — stayed away from school.

The teachers who had reported for work on Saturday across schools had signed the school’s attendance register.

“We have no options but to combine sections to continue the classes. We are trying to manage the situation till next week when we close for summer holidays,” said Avinanda Ghosh Dastidar, headmistress, Tiljala Balika Vidyalya.

The head of a school in Calcutta said that adjustments are only a “stopgap arrangement” and will impact students in the long run if it is not addressed or resolved.

At Kanaknagar SD Institution in Hingalganj, North 24-Parganas, the school’s lone math teacher and another teacher who taught education to HS students have been sacked.

“Science teachers have been asked to take math classes for now. We have combined two sections, so there are about 130 students in a class. We cannot accommodate students in one classroom, thus the classes are being taken in the halls. This is impacting the students’ attention,” said headmaster Pulak Roychowdhury.

In such situations, it becomes easy for students to play truant rather than pay attention to the teacher.

The school has had to put on hold the education classes in Class XII for the time being because no other teacher is qualified to take the class.

A teacher outside the school service commission’s office in Salt Lake said he understood that students were being impacted, but had no choice.

“I should have been in school on Tuesday, and I know that children are suffering, but do I have a choice? I have to fight my battle as well,” said Pratirtha Dutta, who taught history from Classes IX to XII in Basirhat of North 24-Parganas.