The state school service commission started holding interviews for the appointment of teachers at the upper primary level (classes VI to VIII) of government-aided schools from Friday morning.
The commission was forced to shift the venue of the interview fearing disruption from the protest in Salt Lake by candidates aspiring to teach at the primary level (classes I to V).
The interviews, termed personality test, started around 11am at Acharya Sadan, the main office of the commission, also in Salt Lake.
The commission has decided to call 1,585 candidates in batches by November 4. On the first day, 200 candidates who were called stood in a queue in front of Acharya Sadan in Block-EE of Salt Lake, which is a bus stop away from what was the seat of protest by Teachers’ Eligibility Test (primary) candidates until Thursday night.
A candidate called for the interview said they were finally feeling relieved seven years after writing the state-level selection test in 2015.
“We are looking forward to getting appointed at last. However, until we get the letter of appointment, we won’t relax. A lot has happened at the commission since we wrote the selection test,” said a candidate who requested not to be named.
The candidate’s concern was not without reason.
Subires Bhattacharyya, a former chairman of the commission, was arrested by the CBI last month in connection with the allegedly illegal appointment of assistant teachers for classes IX and X in government-aided schools when he was at the helm of the panel from 2014 to 2018.
The selection test was held when Bhattacharyya was the chairman. In July last year, while complying with a Calcutta High Court order, the commission was forced to accept complaints from aspiring teachers who were aggrieved because their names did not feature on the list of candidates to be interviewed.
The commission, following the order of the high court, held hearings in its grievance cell for 18,356 candidates.
After that, it found that 1,585 candidates were eligible for the interview. An official of the commission said around 14,300 teachers would be appointed from a combined pool of those who had been interviewed in June 2021 and those who are going to be interviewed till November 4.
Commission chairman Siddhartha Majumder said they were planning to appoint the teachers by the end of this year.
“After we finish the interview process, we will meticulously check the details before coming up with a merit list. In the merit list, we will publish the scores obtained in each layer of screening, such as the written test and interview, to maintain transparency,” he told The Telegraph.
The commission had earlier decided to hold the interviews at it office in Karunamoyee, close to the venue of protest by TET candidates.
