Bengal teacher recruitment exam after 9 years, over three lakh candidates to write paper today

Kolkata, Sep 7 (IANS) Following repeated court cases and relentless candidates' protests, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) is all set to conduct the first of the two-phase State Level Selection Test (SLST) exam on Sunday after nine years.

The exams will be held on Sunday (September 7), and September 14 to recruit teachers in state-run schools.

According to WBSSC, the SLST is being conducted to fill up 35,726 teaching posts for Classes 9-10 and 11-12. Of these vacancies, 23,212 posts are for Classes 9 and 10, and 12,514 are for Classes 11 and 12.

The overall number of applicants for the two phases of recruitment has crossed 5.65 lakh.

On Sunday, over 3.19 lakh candidates will sit for the test across more than 636 exam centres. The rest will sit for the exam on September 14.

Candidates have been strictly instructed to report to their centres by 10 a.m. Entry will close at 11.45 a.m., with the exam beginning at 12. Question papers will reach centres between 10 a.m. and 10.30 a.m. and will be distributed at 11.45 a.m.

The fresh examination is being held in the backdrop of a teacher recruitment scam which has rocked West Bengal politics. Several people, including former state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress MLA Jiban Krishna Saha and a large number of officers of the state education department, were arrested by central investigation agencies for indulging in massive corruption to help candidates get teaching jobs in exchange for money and also by the manipulation of OMR sheets. These candidates had appeared in the 2016 SLST exam, the last time the WBSSC held a recruitment exam to fill teaching posts in Classes 9-10 and 11-12.

The Supreme Court on April 3 annulled the appointment of about 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff whose recruitment was carried out following the 2016 selection process.

The fresh exams are being held following a Supreme Court order, which also barred the previous panel's (2016) tainted and ineligible candidates from appearing in the fresh exam.

On August 30, the WBSSC, as per the Supreme Court's order, published the list of names of 1,806 tainted candidates who had bagged teaching jobs through the recruitment scam.

Meanwhile, in addition to frisking with metal detectors, separate enclosures have been set up for female candidates, who will be checked by women staff members.

Candidates are not allowed to carry phones, smartwatches, calculators, or opaque items. Only transparent pens, folders, and water bottles will be permitted, though the SSC has also arranged pens at the centres. Additionally, venue supervisor and even SSC officials will not be allowed to carry their mobiles after a point, and cannot go inside the exam hall with them.

Meanwhile, Kolkata Metro will run usual services on both the Blue Line (Dakshineswar-Kavi Subhash) and Green Line (Howrah Maidan-Salt Lake Sector V) for the benefit of candidates appearing for the SLST exam.

--IANS

sch/dpb