State hopes to conduct SSC recruitment & TET every year, says Education Min

Kolkata: State Education minister Bratya Basu said that the state School Service Commission (SSC) will try to hold teacher's recruitment examination every year from now on. The minister added that Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) in the primary level will also be conducted every year.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wants transparency in the recruitment process. We are trying to hold teachers' recruitment related examination (SSC and TET for primary) every year. The High Court has given its judgement regarding upper primary teachers' recruitment and the SSC will do the needful," Basu said.

A few hours after the minister's statement, chairman of SSC, Subha Sankar Sarkar said that the Commission expects to start the interview process for upper primary teachers' recruitment within a week and mop up the entire recruitment process within 12 weeks as per directions of the Calcutta High Court.

"There is still Covid restrictions going on in the state. The college or university teachers who will be involved in the interview process need to turn up at the Commission's office during interview. We have started contacting them for this purpose and the process will take a week," Sarkar said.

The Calcutta High Court on Friday had lifted the interim stay on the ongoing process of recruitment of teachers in the upper primary paving way for the School Service Commission to start interview of the candidates. The SSC on Thursday published lists of candidates for interviews in connection with the recruitment of teachers in Upper Primary schools on the basis of their appearance in the 2016 TET (Teachers' Eligibility Test), which was presented before the high court today (Friday).

"The candidates who may be aggrieved because of his/her name not figuring in the merit list may file a representation individually within a period of two weeks either through email or by submitting a hard copy before the Commission. Accordingly, the Commission will take steps for personal hearing of the aggrieved persons individually. After such hearing, the Commission will communicate the orders of the Commission to such candidates which should be completed by 12 weeks from the date of receipt of the individual representations," a senior SSC official said, adding that the Commission will notify the email for sending grievances in its website on Tuesday.

The Commission has also filed a caveat at the Supreme Court with the anticipation that aggrieved candidates may move the apex court.