Jobless teachers express cautious optimism after West Bengal Assembly poll results

PTI, May 5, 2026, Kolkata: Following the BJP’s landslide victory in the West Bengal Assembly election, a section of jobless teaching staff, whose jobs were annulled by a Supreme Court order in 2025, on Tuesday said they now look forward to some appropriate steps by the new government for reinstatement of their employment.

They said they voted keeping in mind the "uncertain future" they have been facing, and expressed hope that the new administration would meet their long-pending demand for transparent and timely appointments.

In April 2025, the Supreme Court ordered the cancellation of the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited through the West Bengal School Service Commission, citing large-scale irregularities and manipulation in the 2016 recruitment process.

Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had met the jobless teachers at their protest venue to extend support to them.

“In the last 15 years, SSC examinations were held only twice. There have been allegations of corruption in primary recruitment as well. A notification for upper primary recruitment was issued in 2016, but that process is still incomplete,” he said.

In its order, the Supreme Court had observed that the selection process had been “vitiated” by corruption, including tampering of OMR sheets and illegal appointments beyond the notified vacancies.

The verdict triggered widespread protests across the state, with affected candidates staging sit-ins at prominent locations in Kolkata, demanding reinstatement of “genuine” candidates and fresh, transparent recruitment.

"Due to the unimaginable corruption and nepotism by the previous government, most of the jobless teachers are staring at an uncertain future," Mrinmoy Mondal, one of the jobless teachers, told PTI.

"We now look forward to some appropriate steps by the new government for legally reinstating the deserving teachers,” said Mondal, also the spokesperson of West Bengal Untainted Teachers Association.

'Untainted', 'deserving' or 'eligible' teaching or non-teaching staff are those whose involvement in the irregularities in the case was not proved.

Mehboob Mondal of the Eligible Teachers Forum said, “Many candidates who have been demanding their jobs back can only hope for a breakthrough, but uncertainty still looms large over their future."

Mondal was among the hundreds who had launched a sit-in before the West Bengal SSC headquarters in April-May last year and spearheaded an agitation.