West Bengal: Teachers who lost their jobs resume protest outside education HQ

KOLKATA: A day after a series of violent clashes broke out between agitating school teachers and police in and around the headquarters of the West Bengal Education Department in Salt Lake, protesters resumed their demonstration outside the building on Friday.

The teachers, who lost their jobs following a recent court order that cancelled thousands of appointments in government-aided schools due to irregularities in the recruitment process, broke the barricade outside the Bikash Bhavan, and started their agitation afresh, raising slogans against the West Bengal government. Many of those who were injured in the clashes on Thursday returned to the protesting site and joined the demonstration, said a member of the Deserving Teachers' Rights Forum.

They have been demanding immediate steps for the permanent reinstatement of their jobs and that they should not be asked to appear for a fresh recruitment test after cracking the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) exams.

Protestors continue sit in protests

Several protesters claimed that many members of the forum continued a sit-in outside the Bikash Bhavan throughout the night. "We have urged thousands of teachers, civil society members and others to assemble outside the Bikash Bhavan at 3 pm on Friday to intensify our protest. We demand immediate talks with the chief minister," said Chinmoy Mondal, a forum leader and protesting teacher.

The area around Bikash Bhavan turned into a virtual battlefield on Thursday evening after a series of violent clashes broke out between protesting school teachers and police. Many teachers, including several women, were injured in police action, which persisted for over an hour, eyewitnesses said. Despite repeated pleas to the teachers to allow stranded employees of the education department to return home, the protesters continued their agitation on Thursday evening, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bidhannagar) Anish Sarkar said.

The total number of injured teachers was around 100, one of the protesters Mehboob Mondal said. The Supreme Court had invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and other staff in state-aided schools and termed the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”.