YEARS OF WAITING, THOUSANDS OF VACANCIES AND NO APPOINTMENTS: TEACHER ASPIRANTS TAKE THEIR FIGHT TO BIKASH BHAVAN

November 4, 2026

KOLKATA: Uncertainty over stalled primary teacher recruitment in West Bengal brought a group of job aspirants onto the streets on Tuesday, as they marched to Bikash Bhavan in Salt Lake demanding that the state government immediately resume the pending selection process.

The protesting candidates alleged that the previous government had initiated recruitment for 13,421 primary schoolteacher posts in government-aided schools ahead of Durga Puja last year. However, despite the change of government, the selection process has not resumed, leaving thousands of aspiring teachers uncertain about their professional future.

Subhas Chandra Bag, one of the aspirants, said that interviews to shortlist candidates for vacant posts had begun in four districts earlier this year under the previous administration. The process was subsequently suspended after the Election Commission directed the state government to stop interviews and aptitude tests during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct ahead of the Assembly elections. Bag, who cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in 2022, said the new government had yet to restart the recruitment exercise.

The candidates also pointed to the government's recent announcement of 4,432 additional primary teacher posts, arguing that recruitment against these vacancies had not begun either. They demanded that the 13,421 previously announced posts and the additional 4,432 vacancies be combined and filled through an immediate recruitment drive.

Sadhan Das, another protesting candidate, noted that the last TET examination had been conducted on December 24, 2023. He said nearly three years had passed since the selection test and that repeated protests had failed to secure the completion of the recruitment process.

The demonstrators decided to stage an overnight sit-in outside Bikash Bhavan, the state education secretariat, to press their demands. State School Education Minister Dipak Barman said the recruitment process would be initiated soon.

Meanwhile, changes in the reservation framework have emerged as another factor behind the delay. A school education department official said candidates who had reached the middle stages of recruitment were recently asked to edit their OBC sub-categories following the state government's decision to reduce OBC reservation from 17 per cent to 7 per cent.

Candidates were reportedly instructed to make the necessary changes between October 14 and October 31. Under the earlier arrangement, the 17 per cent reservation was divided into 10 per cent for OBC-A and 7 per cent for OBC-B categories. The revised policy provides for 7 per cent reservation, contributing to complications in the ongoing selection process.

The reservation-related changes have also reportedly affected teacher appointments at the secondary and higher secondary levels in government-aided schools.

For the protesting aspirants, the central demand remains the immediate restoration of the stalled recruitment process and a clear timetable for appointments after years of waiting