Braving the scorching Kolkata heat, close to 1,000 school staff who lost their jobs after a recent Supreme Court verdict hit the streets in a mega rally, demanding that a mirror image of the OMR sheet be published, and “genuine candidates” get their jobs back with dignity.
The mega rally, which began from Sealdah to Rani Rashmoni Road in central Kolkata, also saw doctors and people of other professions participate in order to show their support.
Nikunj Kumar Karmakar, 70, and his wife Alokh Karmakar, residents of Beleghata, came to Sealdah in support of those who lost their jobs and also to protest against the “police atrocities”.
On Wednesday, a group of teachers and non-teaching staff clashed with the police outside the office of the district inspector of schools in the Kasba area of Kolkata, where police resorted to lathi-charging. A few teachers alleged that the police kicked protestors.
Pritam Pramanik, a teacher at the Rai Diggi school, told The Indian Express, “We demand mirror copies of the lists, and that the list of genuine candidates be certified and published. We are also protesting against yesterday’s incident at the DI office. And why should the tainted get salaries? We will not give voluntary service.”
Payal Hazra, a teacher at a school in Nadia Krishnanagar, told The Indian Express, “We are the spine of society and this is how we are treated — beaten with sticks and kicked. Yesterday, even the lady teachers were not spared. We just want the tainted candidates to be weeded out.”
Amit Ranjan Bhuiya, teacher and a protestor who faced lathi-charge and said he was kicked, remarked, “Our work is to teach, we should be in a classroom teaching in front of the blackboard with a duster and chalk (in hand), and it is a shame that police are beating us.”
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Apurba Majhi, a teacher in Asansol, told The Indian Express, “We want a reply from the Chief Minister and the education department on why we should suffer for the corruption that is there. Innocent teachers are being lathi-charged, thus we have hit the streets.”
Slogans like “Police, you have to apologise” and “Police have to be punished for what they have done” were heard during the mega rally.
Junior doctor Debasish Haldar, a known face during the R G Kar protests, also participated in the rally. He told mediapersons, “Why should the teachers face such a crisis? We are in support of the teachers who are genuine candidates. The question is why are they not bringing out the list of genuine candidates?”
Meanwhile, actor Badshah Moitra, who also joined the rally, said, “It was not expected that the police would assault the teachers. The government should pay for their medical treatment.”
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Recently, the Supreme Court had cancelled the recruitment of over 25,000 teachers carried out in 2016 by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), calling the process “tainted”.