An air of uncertainty loomed at state-aided schools in the Siliguri subdivision on Friday as nearly 300 teachers and non-teaching employees were rendered jobless after the Supreme Court invalidated their appointments.
“The ruling, which declared the selection process flawed, has rendered 25,753 educators and non-teaching staff jobless in the state. The order has sent shockwaves at state-aided schools, and the institutions in Siliguri are no exception,” said a senior schoolteacher in the city.
The schools, which were short-staffed on Friday, were struggling to maintain order as the void put academic activities in disarray.
Seven teachers of Siliguri Girls’ High School (SGHS) have lost their jobs, leaving the students puzzled and the teachers perplexed.
A senior teacher said the campus has been thrown into chaos.
“Many of the job losers had been class teachers, responsible for their students’ progress, and with unit tests underway, the disruption has been immense. Without them, results may hang in limbo, and crucial academic assessments remain incomplete,” she said.
The teacher said the topic of discussion in the staff room was the future of those teachers whose services were terminated, and the concern about how the institution would run without their presence. None of the seven teachers turned on Friday.
In Siliguri Boys’ High School, seven teachers have lost their jobs. However, they reached the school on Friday, saying no official communication had reached them yet, and they wanted to continue their work.
“The verdict to strip the seven teachers of their roles has left them standing on the precipice of professional oblivion. Students are asking us whether their classes and exams will be conducted properly. We have no answers,” said a teacher.
The Siliguri Netaji Girls’ High School has also been hit just as hard, if not harder.
Of the four affected individuals, one was a life science teacher. A Group-C employee and two Group-D staff members are among the people who were recruited through the exam conducted by the School Service Commission in 2016.
None of them reported for duties on Friday.
As Rumpa Saha, the headmistress, described the struggle to keep the school running, her voice was tinged with helplessness.
“We had only two group D employees at the institution, and their absence brought essential tasks to a standstill. Even the simple act of ringing the school bell, an unnoticed yet essential rhythm of academic life, now becomes a question of responsibility,” she said.
“Teachers, already burdened with academic duties, have to step into unfamiliar roles now to ensure that the exams continue without disruption,” she added.
Nabanita Sarkar, the headmistress of Udaypur Balika Vidyalaya, a school on the outskirts of Raiganj in North Dinajpur, is in a similar situation. In her school, there were two group D employees and since Thursday, none of them joined their duties.
“They open the school’s gates, classrooms and other rooms in the morning and close them after school. Also, ringing the bell, serving notices and reading files and other documents were part of their jobs. Now, we teachers and other non-teaching staff have to shoulder these responsibilities,” said Sarkar.
In Loknathpur High School of Alipurduar 2 block, there is no second teacher for mathematics and biology.
“Both these teachers have stopped coming to school as their names are on the list that has been scrapped,” said a teacher.
The school has 2,800 students. “Although there are 67 sanctioned posts of teachers, we had only 32 teachers. Now, five of them have their names in the panel, which means, we will have 27 teachers to run the institution,” the teacher added.
Additional reporting by Raiganj and
Alipurduar correspondents