Kolkata, May 12 (IANS) The “untainted” or “genuine” secondary and higher secondary teachers in West Bengal, who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month, have now decided to hold more protests in front of the headquarters of the state education department at Salt Lake in the northern outskirts of Kolkata from Thursday onwards.
Such “untainted” teachers, united under the forum christened “Jogyo Shikhok-Shikkika Adhikar Mancha (Genuine Teachers’ Rights Forum)”, since May 7, had been on a peaceful sit-in-demonstration in front of the state education department headquarters, demanding immediate publication of lists segregating the “untainted” ones from the “tainted” ones.
However, on Monday, the forum issued a press statement claiming that they will be going for a more aggressive demonstration in front of the office from Thursday, by organising a “ghearo” demonstration when they will be cordoning off the office from all sides.
According to the press statement, the forum representatives had been trying to meet with state Education Minister Bratya Basu since May 7. “However, no positive signal has come from the office of the state education minister on this count as yet. In such a situation, we have decided to organise a ‘gherao’ demonstration in front of the office of the state education department on May 15, 2025,” the press statement read.
The forum also invited common people to join them in the protests on Thursday.
On April 3 this year, the Supreme Court’s division bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had upheld a previous order by the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak and Justice Shabbar Rashidi cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal.
The apex court also accepted the observation of the Calcutta High Court that the entire panel of 25,753 candidates had to be cancelled because of the failure of the state government and the commission to segregate the “untainted| candidates from the “tainted” ones.
The state government and West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) had already filed review petitions at the apex court on this issue.
“The state government should share with us the details on the progress as regards the review petition,” the press statement from the forum read.
–IANS
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