Candidates who cleared the 2022 Primary TET blocked the main gate of the Assembly demanding recruitment in Kolkata September 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
Teaching job aspirants on Wednesday (September 24, 2025) surrounded and blocked the vehicle of Trinamool Congress leaders in the Barasat area, demanding immediate appointments. A city court asked West Bengal Minister to be present before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on September 25 and September 26 for questioning in the school recruitment scam.
The hundreds of protestors said they had cleared the West Bengal Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) exam in 2022, but are yet to get placed in government school jobs.
Violent clashes erupted between the job aspirants and the local police after the protestors refused to let the Trinamool Congress leaders leave without answers. TMC’s senior leader and MP from Dum Dum constituency Sougata Ray, and MLA Nirmal Ghosh from Panihati constituency were stopped near Barasat’s Rabindra Bhawan (public hall) on Jessore Road, where they were supposed to attend an event of the West Bengal Education Department. The event was supposed to be attended by Education Minister Bratya Basu. They were stranded on the road for over an hour as protestors demanded jobs and justice.
Police baton-charged many to bring the situation under control and detained many of the protestors during the clashes. A huge contingent of the Rapid Action Force was also present on site.
Many aspirants also laid down on the road in an attempt to stop the MP and MLA from entering the event premises.
Job aspirants said that many of them were injured in the clashes and manhandled. “We do not feel like living anymore under such atrocities and unfair treatment,” a person with disability who sustained physical injuries during the clashes told a local media channel while sitting on the footpath near the protest site and wiping his tears.
“We came here for a legitimate cause and ask for what is rightly ours. But they are beating us up and arresting us,” another protestor accused.
Protestors also claimed that there are at least 50,000 vacant posts in primary and upper primary school teacher roles and they should be recruited in these posts.
However, on September 11 Mr. Basu had said there are no specific figures for the number of vacant positions in schools available in their department at the moment. “The districts have to send this data. Once the reports come in, we will publish a notification soon,” Mr. Basu said.
The 2022 TET aspirants have conducted multiple protests over the past few years. Another violent protest erupted outside the West Bengal Assembly on September 11, 2025.
In a related development, results for the 2023 TET exams are set to be published on Wednesday (September 24, 2025). Over 2 lakh 80 thousand candidates had appeared this exam and have waited for over 1.5 years to get the results.
Meanwhile, the designated ED court in Kolkata has said that the ED officials cannot take Minister of Correctional Administration Chandranath Sinha into custody for questioning in the school recruitment scam case. The court upheld his bail but also said that he has to appear before the ED officials on September 25, 26 for questioning. Mr Sinha surrendered before the designated ED court on September 6 and was granted anticipatory bail.
After former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Mr. Sinha was the second minister against whom the ED filed a chargesheet in the 2016 school recruitment scam. Mr Chatterjee was arrested in 2022 and still remains in judicial custody.
An investigation was launched against Mr Sinha under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after the ED officials recovered ₹42 lakh cash from his home in Bolpur in March, 2024.
On April 3, the Supreme Court upheld the Calcutta High Court order that cancelled the appointment of all candidates in the 2016 panel due to irregularities in the hiring process. They also asked the WBSSC to conduct a fresh recruitment process within December 31.
Published – September 25, 2025 09:50 am IST
