A fresh wave of unrest has erupted in West Bengal as a section of teachers who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court judgment have launched a relay hunger strike, protesting not only their termination but also alleged police brutality during demonstrations. The protest began Thursday outside the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) office in Salt Lake, where teachers have also staged an overnight sit-in at the commission’s Acharya Sadan building.
These teachers were among the 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff whose appointments made through a 2016 SSC recruitment drive were annulled after the Supreme Court on April 3 upheld a Calcutta High Court verdict, which described the entire recruitment process as “vitiated and tainted.”
One of the protesting teachers told reporters, “We’ve started a relay hunger strike with one teacher, and more will join. We’ll soon decide our next course of action.”
The teachers also condemned the police action at the District Inspector of Schools office in Kasba, South Kolkata, where their colleagues were allegedly lathi-charged, kicked, and shoved during a peaceful demonstration on Wednesday.
The dismissed educators insist that their jobs were unjustly taken away due to the SSC’s failure to distinguish between fraudulent candidates and those who were legitimately selected. Their anger is now turning into a symbolic hunger protest, calling out what they describe as systemic injustice and government apathy.
