Kolkata: School teachers, who lost jobs, clash with police during agitation

According to reports, police officers were caught on camera kicking some of the protesting teachers.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Police issued a clarification and said an 'unruly mob' launched an unprovoked and violent attack on police personnel during the protest.

"It is clarified that outside the Kasba DI Office, an unruly mob launched an unprovoked and violent attack on police personnel, including women police," the police posted on X.

Police said four male and two female police personnel sustained injuries and are currently undergoing treatment.

"Police were compelled to use mild force to disperse the mob and prevent further injuries and damage to property. Investigation into the incident is underway," police said on X.

Massive state-wide protests

In complete disapproval of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's appeal to provide voluntary service in schools, job losers in West Bengal on Wednesday launched massive state-wide protests and marched to the District Inspector of Schools in Kolkata and other districts.

The job losers marched to the DI offices in various districts, demanding the list of deserving candidates from the government and education department.

The job losers clashed with police to gatecrash into the DI office in Kolkata's Kasba. Police even lathi-charged the protesters who remained firm in camping inside the office as a mark of protest.

In similar scenes in other districts including Bankura, Malda, Siliguri, the protesters clashed with police in a bid to enter into the respective DI offices.

The protests erupted days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to the job losers to provide voluntary service despite the Supreme Court order that annulled the appointments.

Voluntary services

Mamata appealed to the job losers to provide voluntary services in the respective schools until the Supreme Court hears and passes a judgement on the review petition filed by the State.

The Chief Minister also said she has multiple plans ready to accommodate the job losers who are deserving candidates if the Supreme Court delivers an unfavourable judgment on the review petition.

SC order

In a massive judgment, the Supreme Court recently cancelled appointments of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff by the School Service Commission (SSC) upholding the Calcutta High Court's order.

The top court passed the order after the SSC failed to provide two separate lists of deserving and undeserving candidates after the government faced corruption allegations in the recruitment process.

A top court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the selection process was "vitiated and tainted by fraud".

In April 2024, the Calcutta High Court had cancelled recruitment of nearly 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff in government-sponsored and government-aided schools, dismissing the entire 2016 teacher recruitment panel.

The panel was constituted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

Erstwhile state education minister Partha Chatterjee, former primary education board president and Trinamool MLA Manik Bhattacharya, youth leader Kuntal Ghosh are among the people who were arrested so far in connection with the scam.