2016 recruited teachers, candidates left distraught after verdict

 After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday to cancel jobs of close to 26,000 teachers in the SSC 2016 recruitment case, many of the teachers, along with the candidates are left distraught.

Ashok Chatterjee | SNS  |  Kolkata | April 4, 2025 : After the Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday to cancel jobs of close to 26,000 teachers in the SSC 2016 recruitment case, many of the teachers, along with the candidates are left distraught.

Ratan Manna, has been teaching physics at Tiljala High School for boys at Picnic Garden Road, though crestfallen, has decided to fight on instead of brooding over the verdict.

The candidate, who had applied as a Class IX-X teacher, had joined work in January, 2019 and was teaching physics, even though he had been appointed to teach science. He was teaching physics as the two teachers in the school had retired and there was no one to teach the subject.

“We are victims but the students are the bigger victims. After the verdict, the crisis of teacher shortage will go up by many folds. My students will feel neglected. I have to now again prove to my students and parents that I got the job as a genuine candidate and by fair means. I have to keep tending to my family as they are dependent on me,” said Mr Manna.

Beauty Saha, who has been teaching biology at girls’ high school in Nanoor in Class IX-X, is upset with the judiciary. “After this verdict, we do not have any more faith in the courts. I blame both the Centre and the state for the mess. The SC has been very insensitive in asking the ineligible candidates to return part of their salaries.”

Sudip Mondal, an empanelled candidate for the Class XI-XII, who had cleared the interview, is feeling dejected and exhausted.

“There was corruption as well as unlawful practices, which has led to the situation. We have been suffering from 2018, fighting in various courts and are drained out financially. If there is again an exam, we demand the whole process to be under court monitoring and not by the SSC. We also demand that the examinees should be given a carbon copy of the OMR sheets and publishing of the original answers within seven days after the merit list is published,” said Mr Mondal.

AIDSO West Bengal state committee secretary Biswajit Roy reacting to the verdict said, “The state government must take full responsibility for the cancellation of the jobs of those who were appointed after proving their qualifications with transparency. This situation has left the families of the qualified teachers and the well-meaning people of this state extremely disappointed. The future of thousands of families cannot be jeopardised by corruption and corrupt politics in any way. We strongly protest this overall situation.”