Sacked West Bengal teachers clash with police, lathi-charged outside education department office

The teachers, who lost their jobs after the Supreme Court in April found irregularities in the 2016 recruitment process, clashed with the West Bengal Police during a protest in Kolkata on Thursday and broke open the gate to the headquarters of the state education department, reported The Indian Express.

The protesting teachers allegedly kept hundreds of education department employees confined in the headquarters for more than eight hours, before the police began using force at around 8 pm, according to The Telegraph.

The police lathi-charged the protesters, leaving several of them injured. Some police personnel were also injured during the clashes, The Hindu reported.

On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court’s April 2024 order terminating the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff by West Bengal’s School Service Commission.

The top court on April 17 permitted “untainted” teachers to be retained until the end of the academic year or until fresh appointments are made, whichever is earlier.

The court, however, did not grant relief to Group C and Group D employees, or non-teaching staff, whose appointments were also cancelled.

In contrast, “tainted” candidates were instructed to repay their salaries and disqualified from any future appointments, The Hindu reported.

Since Wednesday, more than 1,000 dismissed teachers, classified as “not specifically tainted” and permitted to rejoin schools, have been protesting outside the education department headquarters, The Indian Express...

Read more