'Qualified' TET candidates protest demanding immediate appointment in schools

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of candidates, who claimed to have cleared Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014, staged a sit-in on Monday outside the office of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education in Salt Lake, demanding that they be given immediate job appointment letters.

The agitators said that they had appeared for two interviews after qualifying the written TET 2014 examination, but did not get jobs vide its panel, which, according to the board, has expired. Asserting that they would not want to appear for a fresh examination, announced by the government for this year, the candidates demanded that they be appointed as teachers in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools as per the previous merit list.

The protesters had initially blocked the road at the busy Karunamoyee crossing during the day and then moved to the primary education board office, which is situated nearby. Despite persuasion by the police, they refused to call off the protest "Why should we appear for another exam, having already cleared all rounds in 2014," a woman candidate, participating in the protest, said.

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Former West Bengal Board of primary education chairman Manik Bhattacharya, also a ruling Trinamool Congress MLA, was arrested by the enforcement directorate (ED) on October 11 in connection with the alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of primary teachers in the state. Bhattacharya was removed from the post of chairman on an order of the Calcutta High Court, before which a number of petitions have been moved alleging graft in the appointment process of teachers in state-sponsored and -aided schools.