On Friday, a Calcutta High Court judge ordered the cancellation of 36,000 primary teacher appointments made in 2016.
Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, announced the dismissal of 36,000 out of 42,500 primary school teachers appointed in 2016.
The 2016 appointments of 42,500 candidates of primary school teachers based on the 2014 (TET) exam in which 36000 candidates got rejection.
The court said that the rejected primary teacher candidates can go to school for four months but will get a salary as para teachers.
As per the order of the court, the state government has to start the process and complete the appointment within three months.
The Court said that those whose appointments canceled can also participate in the fresh appointment process, provided they have completed their training earlier.
Gautam Paul, chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, appointed in August 2022, said he will challenge the High Court’s decision.
He said, “36000 teachers no longer untrained. The board has trained all of them on online learning mode by 2019.”
He further said, “The board already started taking legal help and we are going to challenge this order. They appointed following the guidelines of the National Council for Teacher Education.
A total of 42,500 primary teachers recruited in 2016, out of which the appointments of 36,000 teachers canceled on May 12.
The bench said that during the hearing, an advocate of the High Court, who was present, said that the teachers were appointed without the eligibility test.
The court had made it clear in December last year that it would quash all selected panels appearing for the Teacher Eligibility Test if found guilty.
On Friday, the High Court also told the 36,000 canceled teachers that still have a chance to show their talent in four months.
The court said that if the state is not able to invest financially in the new recruitment process, they can take help from Manik Bhattacharya, former chairman of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, if necessary.
The CBI and ED investigated allegations of corruption in the recruitment of teachers and untrained teachers on the orders of the Calcutta High Court.
Former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee arrested in 2014 on charges of selling jobs to untrained teachers for money.