Education Ministry to Release Eligible List and OMRs, Pending Legal Advice

Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu Addresses Protesters’ Concerns

Following a three-hour meeting with a 13-member delegation of protesting teachers, Bengal education minister Bratya Basu announced that the School Service Commission portal will publish the list of eligible and ineligible candidates among school staffers who have lost their jobs by April 21, subject to legal advice. Additionally, the 22 lakh mirror images of OMR sheets currently with the CBI may also be published, pending legal advice.

Supreme Court to Review Petition on April 17

• The Supreme Court is expected to hear the state secondary education board’s review petition of its order scrapping the 2016 SSC panel, and consequently jobs of 25,752 school staffers, on April 17.

Productive Meeting with Protesters

• With the government agreeing to their primary demands, representatives of the protesting teachers considered the meeting productive.
• However, the jobless teachers decided to continue their protest outside the SSC office until April 16, when they plan to hold a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

Minister’s Appeal to Jobless School Staffers

• The minister urged the jobless school staffers to return to school and trust CM Mamata Banerjee.
• He said that the secondary education board’s review plea will be heard in SC on April 17 and they want to see who opposes it.
• The state will file a separate review petition and they are hopeful that this time it will be infallible. They are optimistic about receiving clear guidance on salary-related matters.

Teachers’ Delegation’s Response

• Chinmoy Mandal, a member of the teachers’ delegation, said that the meeting was productive and they are partially satisfied with the positive steps taken to resolve the issue.
• They will seek legal advice on the matter and will feel relieved only after winning the legal case and getting their jobs back.

Meeting with Job Losers

• The meeting, the government’s first formal interaction with the job losers, occurred two days after the confrontation between cops and teachers in Kasba.
• Senior officers made it clear that they did not condone any intentional wrongdoing by cops.
• Mehbub Mandal, a teacher who was injured in the Kasba scuffle and was part of the delegation, said that the discussion was positive, but the protests will not cease until they receive justice.