Kolkata, 17 April

The teachers of state-run and state-aided schools in West Bengal — whose services were temporarily extended by the Supreme Court on Thursday — expressed dissatisfaction over what they termed as a "short-term relief."

They asserted that only permanent reinstatement would bring them justice.

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the state government to initiate a fresh recruitment process by 31 May and complete it by 31 December.

It also instructed the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) and the state government to file a compliance affidavit detailing the initiation of the recruitment process by the deadline.

Pankaj Roy, one of the nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff whose appointments through the 2016 SSC recruitment drive were annulled, told PTI, "With all respect to the Honourable Supreme Court, let’s voice our dissatisfaction over the order which has allowed us to attend classes only till 31 December. What happens after that? The SC has asked the state to issue a fresh notification. We’ve already made it clear that we will not sit for fresh exams after clearing the 2016 recruitment test as eligible candidates."

Roy, a political science teacher at a secondary school in North Bengal, had observed a three-day hunger strike last week outside the WBSSC office in Acharya Bhavan, demanding the publication of a list distinguishing ‘tainted’ from ‘untainted’ candidates from the 2016 recruitment batch.

He also urged the WBSSC to clarify to the apex court that eligible teachers should not be dismissed.

"The SC order doesn’t even address the case of non-teaching candidates," he added.

"This omission, in our view, results from the state government and SSC’s attempt to create division among protesting sacked staff," he added.

Dhritish Mondal of Jogyo Sikshak Manch (Eligible Teachers’ Platform) echoed the sentiment, saying, "We are not tainted candidates. This is even acknowledged in the SC order. Then why should our services be extended only till 31 December? As per service rules, we should serve till we reach the superannuation age of 60. If the WBSSC knows who is tainted and who is not, why can’t they tell the SC clearly?"

Mondal emphasised that the teachers, who had qualified through the 2016 recruitment process and served diligently, were unwilling to sit for fresh exams.

"This short-term extension means little after all our hard work and years of service. We will continue our protests until we get justice in the truest sense," he said.

While 70 members of the Manch launched a sit-in protest in Delhi on 16 April, over 100 others have been staging an indefinite demonstration at Esplanade in Kolkata since 3 April.

Asked whether the teachers would resume classes from Saturday, the protesters said, "We will decide soon. If we do return to school, it will be solely in the interest of the students, who are suffering."

A member of the managing committee of Bishnupur High School in Bankura district said the institution faced serious academic disruptions after the dismissal of eight teachers.

"With today’s development, we are trying to reach out to the affected teachers and request them to resume classes from Saturday," the member said.

Attempts to reach West Bengal Board of Secondary Education President Ramanuj Ganguly were unsuccessful, as he did not respond to calls.

On Thursday, in a significant relief to West Bengal, the Supreme Court extended the services of teachers found "untainted" by the CBI probe into the 2016 SSC recruitment scam.

A bench of Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar observed that school education had been severely impacted following mass terminations and acknowledged that new recruitment would require time.

However, the relief was not extended to Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ non-teaching staff.

Earlier, on 3 April, the apex court had invalidated the appointments of 25,753 teachers and staff in state-run and aided schools, calling the recruitment process "vitiated and tainted," and ordered the recovery of salaries from those deemed to have obtained appointments improperly.