Smritirupa Pal of Bolpur in Birbhum district with her husband Subrata and four-year-old son in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area on Friday. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)Sitting outside Acharya Sadan in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area with her four-year-old son on her lap, upper primary Teacher Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified candidate Smritirupa Pal (33) is seen making last-minute preparations ahead of her interview.
She is one of the 1,585 candidates who were called for an interview for filling the vacancies of teachers in government-run schools.
“When I had appeared in the exam seven years ago, I was unmarried. Now I am married and have the responsibility of raising my four-year-old son. I have forgotten all that I studied back then,” said Smritirupa who hails from Bolpur in Birbhum district.
In a massive exercise following the teacher requirement scam, the state education department at the direction of the Calcutta High Court started conducting a fresh recruitment drive to provide jobs to candidates who were allegedly deprived of teaching positions.
While the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (WBCSSC) has called up 1,585 TET-qualified candidates from 2014 to appear in interviews to fill positions in the upper primary section in the state-run and aided schools, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) has announced fresh TET for primary section on December 11 to fill about 11,000 vacant posts. According to the WBBPE, about 6.9 lakh candidates have applied to appear in the examination.
A large number of the TET- and SSC-qualified candidates had moved the High Court alleging irregularities in the recruitment process. The single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had ordered CBI and ED inquiries into the alleged scam.
Thereafter, former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, former SSC chairman Subiresh Bhattacharyya, former primary board president Manik Bhattacharya and several other government officials were arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam. The candidates alleged that the merit list for TET exams was tampered with to recruit undeserving candidates in exchange of money. In a large number of cases, documents of candidates were wrongly uploaded or misplaced to reject their applications.
Sushanta Mondal (36) from Joyrambati in Bankura district had first moved the grievances cell of the WBCSSC and later the High Court after he was deprived of job despite featuring in the merit list. “The TET notification was issued in 2014 and the exam was held in 2015. I had scored 75.2 per cent marks in that. In the 2016 recruitment process, I did not get a chance to appear in the interview. Later, we found out that those who received poor marks or did not even clear the exam were given jobs in exchange of money. That’s when we decided to move the grievance cell and the court,” said Mondal who for the last six years has been teaching at a private school in Delhi on a daily salary basis.
“Recently, I received a letter asking me to appear for the interview for the upper primary section. Those who scored better marks or appeared in the merit list are being called. We hope that I will probably get the job which I should have had back in 2016,” added Mondal.
There are even candidates who could not make it to the interview list in 2016 and again in 2019. Pradip Murmu (32), a candidate from Purulia district, said, “In 2016, I did not feature in the merit list. In 2019, my name was there in the revised merit list. This time my application was cancelled as my documents were not properly uploaded. It was said that one of my documents went missing from the server. This means the entire recruitment process was compromised.” The interview process for the fresh recruitment, which began on October 21, concluded on November 4.
WBCSCC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said, “A fresh recruitment drive is taking place to appoint teachers at the upper primary level. We are conducting a fair and transparent recruitment. We are abiding by the court orders.”
At the same time, a large number of TET- and SSC-qualified candidates demanding teaching jobs are on a 600-day-long protest in the Esplanade area of the city.
State education minister Bratya Basu appealed to the protesting candidates to have faith in the government. “We are complying with the court orders. The recruitment drive has started. New positions are also been created to accommodate the candidates,” said Basu.
But the candidates who appeared in the interviews are still worried. “This is our last chance. Almost all the candidates have lost precious years of their lives. We are in our thirties now. If we don’t get the job now, we will no longer be able to apply for it again. We hope that this time a fair recruitment process will be held,” said Shatadeepa Khanra (33) who hails from Tarakeshwar in Hooghly district.
Ayan De, 30, from Halisahar in North 24 Paraganas district, however, exuded a bit of optimism, saying, “The interview went well. Let us hope that the entire process will be transparent also.”