Future uncertain for Bengal’s ‘sacked’ teachers as Supreme Court confirms cancellation of over 23,000 appointments

Teachers recruited in 2016 gathered at Kolkata’s Shahid Minar to watch the Supreme Court proceedings today, breaking down into frantic tears after news broke of the invalidation of their appointments

A pall of gloom descended on teachers gathered at Shahid Minar grounds in Central Kolkata on Thursday (April 4, 2025) after the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court’s 2024 order cancelling over 23,000 teaching and non-teaching appointments in West Bengal’s State-run and aided schools.

A little over a year back, hundreds of teachers had gathered to protest at the same place in similarly hot and humid weather when, on April 22, 2024, the Calcutta High Court had ordered the invalidation of the 2016 recruitment panel by the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC), comprising 23,123 teaching and non-teaching appointees.

The Supreme Court, on May 7 last year, had stayed the High Court order, stating that it would be unfair to set aside all appointments if tainted and untainted appointees could be segregated. But on Thursday (April 3, 3035), a Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar upheld the High Court’s finding that the 2016 selection process was plagued by widespread fraud, and the futures of nearly 24,000 teachers were left uncertain once again.

“There are 600 to 650 examination answer scripts from school that I have been tasked to grade. They are lying at home. I do not know if I will be allowed to check those answer scripts anymore,” said 35-year-old Sahana Naznin, who has been teaching at Baruipur Girls’ High School for the last six years.

‘Innocent appointees also punished’

Ms. Naznin claimed to be one of the many “untainted” teachers appointed in the 2016 panel, whose jobs were “unfairly rendered null and void” today.

“I think none of us had come here today expecting this outcome. Most of us are in our mid to late 30s. So many of us have families to feed and children to raise and support. Everything just slipped out of our hands in the blink of an eye. The untainted candidates did not deserve this,” she told The Hindu.

Ms. Naznin was surrounded by almost a hundred of her fellow teachers recruited in 2016 for government-run and aided schools across West Bengal. They had gathered at Shahid Minar in the sweltering heat on Thursday (April 3, 2025) morning to follow the Supreme Court proceedings together.

At around 11 a.m., when news broke of the dismissal of the entire panel of 23,123 teaching and non-teaching staff, many broke into tears, some started calling their families in despair, and the rest descended into a state of hopelessness about their future.

Like Ms. Naznin, Subhojit Das had appeared for the exam and interview by the SSC and was selected for a teaching job in 2016. He claimed that at the time, he had no idea about the corruption many candidates had allegedly engaged in that year.

“After five years of service, just last year, I found out about the twisted machinations of the tainted candidates, the SSC, and the government. This is my sixth year as a teacher. Today, I lost my job. It would have been better if the Supreme Court had simply ordered for all of us to be buried alive,” Mr. Das said.

He said that examinations were under way for students at his school and that his colleagues from the 2016 panel were invigilating when the news broke.

“I have elderly parents, a wife, and a three-year-old daughter at home. From tomorrow, I have no job to go to. I do not think I have experienced a bigger catastrophe than this my whole life,” he said.

Gaps in the system

Aggrieved teacher Pratap Roychowdhury raised questions on how the State-run school education system could continue to operate if so many teachers were dropped from service at once.

“I graded and submitted answer scripts of the Class 10 board exam last week. On April 5, I am supposed to receive answer scripts from the Class 12 board exam for grading. Today, thousands of even untainted teachers have lost our jobs. Suddenly, I do not even know how I will be able to put food on my daughter’s plate anymore,” he said.

He added that in the State-run higher secondary school where he teaches, there are 750 students and only 10 permanent teachers, including him.

“Seven of us in this school are from the 2016 recruitment panel. After today’s development, our school is left with only three teachers in permanent positions. How can a higher secondary school run with just three teachers?” he asked.

Sagar Mondal, 36, one of the teachers present at Shahid Minar grounds on Thursday (April 3, 2025), said he could not fathom that “in the eyes of law, wrongerdoers and innocent people were treated the same”.

“If the SSC conducted the recruitment process in such a flawed manner, why are the teachers bearing the brunt of their failure? When we appeared for the selection process, we were ordinary people aspiring to be teachers. We passed every level of their recruitment process with honesty. Is it fair to ask us to apply again after so many years of service?” he asked.

A large part of West Bengal’s political landscape in the last three years was dominated by the “cash-for-jobs scam” surrounding recruitments by the SSC, especially since the arrest of former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee in July 2022. Subsequently, several other Trinamool leaders were arrested in this regard.

Published - April 03, 2025 10:13 pm IST