Bengal Education minister calls upon agitating teachers to have faith in state govt

Kolkata, May 25 (PTI) West Bengal Education minister Bratya Basu on Sunday urged the agitating teachers to have faith in the state government "which is taking every step to end the impasse" following the invalidation of their jobs by the Supreme Court.

He also urged the agitating teachers not to be used by the opposition political parties.

Basu, who was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme, said a senior official will meet the teachers - who have been agitating before the Education department headquarters Bikash Bhavan for the past several days - to ascertain their demands as the government is exploring all possible legal steps to solve the issue.

He said the state government ensured the "untainted teachers", rendered jobless by SC order, can continue to attend their workplace and get salary till the process of fresh recruitment is completed by December 31.

Asked about the demand made by protestors, belonging to the 'Deserving Teachers Rights Forum', to meet them at the sit-in venue and hold discussions, Basu said, "As I said a senior official of the Education department will meet them on Monday and hear from them about the issues which they want to raise. I had already met some of their representatives several times and discussed all the issues and offered legal support.

"A section of the jobless teachers are not part of the protests any more and depend on the state government for future steps to solve the issue. Another section is holding the sit-in. Both sections have already reported to their workplaces and we are sympathetic to all of them. But I would urge everyone to have faith in the state and not be used by the opposition who only want to politicise the issue," the Education minister said.

To another question about the "untainted teachers" refusal to sit for any fresh recruitment test after cracking the 2016 recruitment test, Basu said "We have to abide by the SC order. The School Service Commission has to abide by the SC order. But we are trying to explore the best possible route suiting their interests." Basu was referring to the meeting between forum members and BJP MP and former Calcutta High Court justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay earlier in the day.

Gangopadhyay, after holding discussion with the forum members, said due to the gross irregularities in the recruitment process by the state government and the SSC, these deserving teachers are staring at an uncertain future for no fault on their part.

"The state is responsible for the present impasse which affected thousands. We can only express hope and optimism that the untainted teachers will see the light at the end of the tunnel. The ball is in the domain of SC and we can only hope for the best. Yes, I have exchanged my views with them," he said.

Chinmoy Mandal of the forum said "We have given the deadline till Monday (May 26) to the state for initiating talks with us to find ways and a road map to solve the impasse. We are yet to get any official reply to the mail seeking an audience with the education minister.

Another forum member said till the state government comes up with a positive response for holding talks till Monday, "We will not budge from the sit-in venue." "We will continue to hold our protests at the present spot till May 26 afternoon. We will think about shifting to the alternative makeshift sit-in platform at nearby Central Park only after assessing the situation tomorrow and seeing the response of the government to our demand for talks," Mandal said.

On Friday, the Calcutta High Court directed the agitating teachers to move their indefinite sit-in demonstration to Central Park, around 200 metres from their earlier location, to ease disruption to daily commuters and office-goers.

Nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching staff of West Bengal government-aided schools lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order which termed the entire recruitment process as vitiated and tainted. PTI SUS RG