The state primary education board on Thursday recommended 185 candidates for appointment as teachers in government-aided primary schools, in compliance with a directive of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court.
The board, which has in recent times been mired in controversies over allegedly irregular recruitment of teachers, said in its notice “the names have been recommended for appointment after observing meticulously the extant provisions of West Bengal Primary Teacher Recruitment Rules, 2016”.
Amid the complaints of irregularities that have stalled the recruitment process, this was the first time that teachers are being appointed.
The candidates whose names feature on Thursday’s list had emerged as successful in the 2014 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) following an addition of marks after the board admitted mistakes in some questions.
They moved the high court this year seeking an order allowing them to take part in the recruitment process for primary teachers.
On September 19, the candidates were called to Acharya Prafulla Sadan in Salt Lake, the headquarters of the board, for viva voce/aptitude test.
“These candidates have to contact the district primary school councils to receive their letters of appointment. We have uploaded on our website the merit list that features scores allotted to TET, board exams, training, viva, aptitude test and extracurricular activities,” said Goutam Paul, president of the ad-hoc committee that has been tasked with running the board following the removal of previous board president Manik Bhattacharya.
“We have meticulously observed the rules for the sake of transparency”.
Justice Samapti Chatterjee had in October 2018 directed the board to award full marks to the candidates who had answered the questions that the court had declared wrong based on a report by a team from Visva-Bharati.
Since the order was not carried out, Justice Gangopadhyay had in September last year ruled that if the petitioners were found eligible after awarding the extra marks, they would have to be appointed immediately.
In September 2022, he told the board to see to it that the recruitment process was completed by September 28, said an official of the board.
“He was going to check with the board on September 28 whether the process was over or not,” he said.