West Bengal's 'untainted' teachers protest over stalled recruitment process

KOLKATA: The West Bengal Untainted Teachers' Association (WBUTA) on Wednesday submitted a deputation to officials at the state education headquarters in Salt Lake, demanding expeditious completion of the teacher recruitment process and appointment of eligible candidates.

The protesters assembled at Karunamoyee Bus Stand around 11.30 am and proceeded towards Bikash Bhavan, association spokesperson Mrinmoy Mondal said.

Mondal said the untainted teachers organisation's demands include immediate completion of counselling for successful candidates for classes 11 and 12 and issuance of appointment letters.

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"For classes 9 and 10, the personality test process should be started at the earliest and the recruitment process completed. Eligible teachers should also be retained in their respective posts with full salaries until the recruitment process is finalised," Mondal said.

The association has also demanded simplification and shortening of the time needed for police and medical verification, besides a permanent solution to problems arising from incorrect vacancies.

It has sought counselling of all eligible waiting-listed candidates, within the maximum permissible number of rounds under the relevant gazette, to fill vacant posts.

WBUTA, which comprises over 12,000 candidates from the 2016 SSC recruitment process declared untainted among the 26,000 candidates whose appointments were invalidated following a Supreme Court order on April 3, 2026, has also demanded that competent lawyers be engaged to address legal hurdles affecting the recruitment process and alleged conspiracies against appointments.

"Our objective is to ensure that the legitimate demands of teacher aspirants reach the general public. We appeal to the media to cover the peaceful programme and highlight the issues faced by eligible candidates," Mondal said.