Abiding by the Supreme Court’s directive to initiate the teacher recruitment process by the end of May, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has issued a notification for the appointment of 35,726 teachers across secondary and higher secondary schools in the state.
According to the official notice uploaded late Thursday night on the Commission’s website, the recruitment drive will fill 23,312 vacancies for classes 9 and 10 and 12,514 posts for classes 11 and 12.
The advertisement includes a significant stipulation on age eligibility, setting the lower and upper limits at 21 and 40 years respectively.
“Upper age limit is, however, relaxable by 5 years for scheduled caste/scheduled tribe candidates, 3 years for backward class candidates and 8 years for physically handicapped candidates,” the notice stated.
"Applicants will be provided carbon copies of their OMR (optical mark recognition) sheets, which the Commission confirmed will be preserved for a period of three years.
This initiative follows a Supreme Court ruling that annulled over 24,000 appointments made through the 2016 State Level Selection Test (SLST) due to irregularities such as manipulated merit lists and tampered OMR sheets. The Court directed the WBSSC to initiate a fresh recruitment process by May 31, 2025, and complete it by December 31, 2025.
In compliance with this directive, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the recruitment of 23,212 assistant teachers for classes 9–10 and 12,514 for classes 11–12. The application process will commence on June 16 and conclude on July 17, 2025.
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To enhance transparency, the CM had said that the WBSSC will provide candidates with carbon copies of their OMR sheets, release answer keys, and video-record interviews. Additionally, OMR sheets will be preserved for three years, up from the previous one-year retention period.
Candidates who were previously employed but had their appointments annulled will receive age relaxation and their prior experience will be considered during the recruitment process.
Online applications will be accepted from 5 pm on 16 June until 5 pm on 17 June, the Commission said.
The notification follows an order from a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, which on 3 April upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict issued on 22 April 2024. The High Court had annulled previous appointments made in state-run and aided schools, terming the process “vitiated and tainted”.
Subsequently, on 17 April, the apex court allowed the continuation of services of untainted teachers identified by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) until 31 December, having acknowledged that large-scale terminations had disrupted academic activities in schools.
The Supreme Court had further directed that the fresh recruitment process be initiated with an advertisement no later than 31 May and concluded, including examinations, by the end of the year. The state government and the WBSSC were instructed to submit a compliance affidavit by 31 May, confirming the initiation of the recruitment drive.
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