Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), on Monday, challenged the Single Bench of Calcutta High Court’s order on dismissal of 36,000 primary teachers.
The matter is likely to be heard by the Division Bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya on Tuesday.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Friday had ordered cancellation of 36,000 primary teachers who were reportedly untrained.
Justice Gangopadhyay had directed the Board to conduct fresh recruitment within three months. He had also directed that the 36,000 primary teachers will not be fired immediately and will continue their work for four months on the salary of an adjunct teacher.
Board’s president Gautam Pal on Friday said that the Board was taking legal advice with regards to the order by Justice Gangopadhyay.
Pal said that the 36,000 teachers in service are no longer untrained and that they had completed their training by 2019.
He informed the media that the teachers were recruited as per the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) norms.
On the accusation that the aptitude test was not taken, Pal said that the Board had submitted an affidavit with regards to this as directed by the court. “As per the record, every expert took the aptitude test of the candidates,” he said.
At least 140 people had reportedly filed a case in the High Court upon not being appointed and claimed that the list published recently by the Board has names of many untrained candidates, who, they alleged, got recruited despite having lesser marks than them.
In 2016, at least 42,000 teachers were recruited on the basis of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) 2014.
Meanwhile, in another case, a lawyer has sought an amendment over the alleged typographical error on the number of primary teachers dismissed. Justice Gangopadhyay’s order document mentioned that 36,000 primary teachers were dismissed but the lawyer has claimed that the number was 30,185.