There is no end in sight for West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) aspirants whose indefinite strike entered the fourth week, with many participants falling ill. They are demanding the immediate filling of vacancies in state schools. The strike has been organised in front of the Press Club on Mayo Road at Dharmatala in Kolkata.
As per a report published in The Indian Express by Sweety Kumari, the protesting job aspirants who have qualified for the post of assistant teachers are alleging non-transparency in the merit list prepared by the SSC. Their names are on the waiting list. The selection test was conducted in 2017 and the results were published in March 2018. The notification for the vacancies was released in 2016.
Sheikh Insan Ali, president of SSC Youth Students’ Rights, which is organising the protests, told IE, “Thousands of seats are lying vacant across schools in the state. But we are jobless despite the fact that our names are in the waiting list. Out of the 18,000 vacancies, 12,000 have been empanelled while 6,000 are on the waiting list.”He had appeared for the exam in 2017.
Due to the abnormal delay, several candidates have alleged that the Commission has started “backdoor appointments”. While many aspirants have taken up low-paying jobs in the private sector, a few have initiated legal action.
As per an Anandabazaar Patrika report, one of the protesters Arpita Das fainted on stage on Wednesday evening. She was taken to SSKM hospital along with Shampa Shur and Mamoni Basak who had also fallen ill. Out of at least 400 agitators, 50 fell ill.
A medical team from an NGO is present at the venue to provide aid to the protestors. A doctor from that team told Anandabazaar Patrika that people fell ill because the indefinite strike has drained the glucose from their bodies.
An SSC aspirant Prakash Ghosh told the daily, “The indefinite nature of the strike has amplified our spirit. We have passed the SSC exams, cleared the interview process and got our documents verified too. The only thing left is to be appointed to a school. Despite countless teaching vacancies, why are we still unemployed?”
Support pours in from all corners:
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader Shyamal Chakraborty met the protesters and raised slogans on Wednesday. Jadavpur University professor and South Kolkata CPI(M) candidate Nandini Mukherjee was also present at the venue.
Mukherjee said, “I request the chief minister to look into the problems brought up by the aspirants. Otherwise, the strike will snowball into something bigger. If SSC exams are held regularly this problem would not arise.”
On being asked why politicians were speaking at a politically neutral movement, an aspirant named Taniya Seth said, “Our movement is apolitical. However, leaders from all political parties have offered their support. Poet, singer, activist, theatre artist, people from all walks of life have come to support us. We have not turned anyone away.”
Seth told Anandabazaar Patrika that on Tuesday their representatives went to meet State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and told him that they don’t believe the government’s oral promises.
Chatterjee told Anandabazaar Patrika, “Jobs will be offered to eligible candidates transparently. Sitting for indefinite strikes will not lead to a job.”
As per reports, Service Selection Board (SSB) chairman, Soumitra Sarkar said, “We are counselling candidates on the basis of the records of empty slots that we have. SSB doesn’t have the ability to update the records.”