Did Round 2 of the State Level Selection Test by WBSSC go off without a hitch?

Kolkata, Sep 14 (NationPress) The second phase of the State Level Selection Test (SLST), organized by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Sunday, wrapped up seamlessly, according to an official statement.

This examination, aimed at hiring teachers for Classes 11 and 12 (Higher Secondary), commenced at noon and concluded at 1:30 p.m. Notably, candidates with disabilities were allotted an additional 30 minutes.

There are 12,514 vacancies available for Class 11 and 12, with approximately 246,000 candidates participating in this round of the SLST.

Following the exam, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu confirmed that the assessment proceeded without any issues and highlighted new measures implemented by the School Service Commission this year to ensure transparency.

Basu stated that the model answer sheets will be published on the commission's website by September 20 and will be accessible for two years.

“Should any candidates have objections regarding the model answer sheets, they must notify the WBSSC through its website within five days. Results will be announced after the Durga Puja festivities, detailing who qualifies for the interview,” Basu mentioned.

He further indicated that interview sessions will commence in November and the recruitment process is expected to be finalized by December 31.

The first round of SLST also transpired without issues the previous Sunday (September 7), attracting over 319,000 candidates.

In detailing exam participation, Basu noted that 31,362 candidates from other states participated in the first exam on September 7, while the recent exam saw 13,517 from outside West Bengal, predominantly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The SLST aims to fill a total of 35,726 teaching positions across Classes 9-10 and 11-12, with 23,212 posts allocated for Classes 9 and 10 and 12,514 for Classes 11 and 12. The overall applications for both recruitment phases have surpassed 565,000.

This new round of examinations is being conducted in light of a teacher recruitment scandal that has influenced West Bengal's political landscape in recent years.

Numerous individuals, including former state education minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool MLA Jiban Krishna Saha, and various state education department officials, have been arrested by central investigative agencies for engaging in extensive corruption, facilitating candidates in obtaining teaching positions in exchange for money, and manipulating OMR sheets.

These candidates had participated in the 2016 SLST, the last instance when the WBSSC conducted a recruitment exam for teaching roles in Classes 9-10 and 11-12.

On April 3, the Supreme Court invalidated the appointments of around 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff, whose recruitment was based on the 2016 selection process.

The new examinations are being conducted following a Supreme Court directive, which also disqualified the previous panel’s (2016) tainted and ineligible candidates from participating in the fresh exam.

On August 30, the WBSSC published a list of 1,806 tainted candidates who secured teaching positions amid the recruitment scandal, as mandated by the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Suman Biswas, the convenor of the forum for unemployed yet qualified teachers, also participated in today’s exam in Hooghly district. He had been a prominent voice in protests last month, urging the state government to annul the exam and hire qualified candidates who lost opportunities due to the scandal.

“Despite being eligible and passing the previous exam, we are compelled to retake it. We are victims of systemic failures. We are suffering due to rampant corruption,” stated Biswas, who sat for the exam at Hooghly Women’s College.

Additionally, Babita Sarkar, who initiated a petition at the Calcutta High Court alleging extensive corruption in the recruitment process, also took the exam on Sunday.

Babita had filed a case claiming that Ankita Adhikary, the daughter of former state minister Paresh Adhikary, obtained her job illegally.

In May 2022, the then-Calcutta High Court Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay cancelled Ankita’s job and ordered her to return her salary. Consequently, Babita secured the position originally held by the former minister's daughter and received a salary of approximately Rs 15 lakh. However, it later came to light that there was an error in evaluating Babita's marks, leading to her losing her job after another job seeker named Anamika Roy filed a case. Ultimately, the same position was awarded to Anamika Roy, who also lost it following the Supreme Court's cancellation of about 26,000 teaching and non-teaching positions.

Speaking with reporters, Sarkar remarked, “Questions regarding the impartiality of the WBSSC will always linger after the previous incidents. Those who committed corruption faced no repercussions. The same individuals involved in corruption are once again overseeing the exam.”