West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (File) Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that her government would appoint 31,500 teachers for upper primary and primary levels by March next year to improve the education system.
Of the total, 10,500 primary teachers (Class 1 to 4) and 14,000 upper primary teachers (Class V to VIII) will be recruited before Durga Puja in October while the rest 7,000 primary teachers will be recruited by March.
Warning against lobbying, the chief minister said all teachers who had passed the examination would be selected through a merit list. “Those who have passed the examinations are eligible for the jobs. The appointments were stuck because of court cases,” Banerjee said.
The Calcutta High Court had in February ordered an interim stay on the recruitment process following petitions filed by job aspirants who alleged discrepancies after their names did not feature in the merit list.
The high court later directed the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) to ensure that deserving candidates were not left out and the recruitment process was conducted transparently.
The court, which initially asked the Commission to publish the interview list by May 10, had allowed them some time in view of the ongoing Covid pandemic.
The Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for recruitment of teachers in upper primary schools was held in August 2015 and the results were declared in September 2016. The results of the interview were out in August 2019. Around five lakh candidates had appeared for the tests.
In December last year, Banerjee had announced that 16,500 teachers would be appointed at the primary level.
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