A section of teachers and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court verdict annulling their recruitment have launched a relay hunger strike in Kolkata, protesting their dismissal as well as police action during earlier demonstrations.
The protest began outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) headquarters in Salt Lake on Wednesday night, where a group of aggrieved staff initiated a sit-in at the Acharya Sadan building.
On Thursday, the protest escalated into a relay hunger strike.
“We started a relay hunger strike agitation with one teacher at the beginning and will soon chalk out further programme to protest the issue,” one of the protesting teachers told reporters at the site.
The agitation stems from the Supreme Court's 3 April verdict upholding a 2024 Calcutta High Court judgement that cancelled the appointment of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited through a 2016 SSC drive. The apex court termed the recruitment process “vitiated and tainted.”
Those affected allege they have been unfairly dismissed due to the authorities’ failure to distinguish between genuine and fraudulent appointments.
“The reason behind our plight was the inability of the SSC to differentiate between the candidates who secured employment through fraudulent means and those who did not,” said another teacher who lost their job.
The protestors are also voicing their anger over police action during demonstrations at the District Inspector (DI) of Schools’ office in Kasba on Wednesday. They claim they were baton-charged and manhandled by law enforcement officers.
“We were even kicked and shoved around,” a protestor said.
On Wednesday, chaos erupted in front of the DI office at Kasba when jobless teachers and staff staged a protest, leading to a lathi charge by police. A police statement later claimed that four male and two female police personnel were injured in what they described as an “unprovoked attack” by protestors.
Similar demonstrations were reported from DI offices in Purba Bardhaman, Malda, Purulia, and Murshidabad.
Protests also disrupted normal functioning at Acharya Sadan, the WBSSC headquarters, where demonstrators shouted slogans and blocked the entrance.
The fresh round of protests has added to the already heightened tension in Bengal’s education sector, with thousands of families left in limbo following the mass annulment of jobs. Despite the setback, protestors have vowed to continue their agitation peacefully and press for a thorough review of their individual cases.
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