Primary Edu Board explains delay in teacher recruitment notification

Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) has clarified that the delay in issuing a fresh notification for primary teacher recruitment is due to an ongoing legal matter concerning the OBC reservation, currently pending in the Supreme Court.

In an official statement issued on Tuesday, the Board explained that due to this legal issue, the state School Education department is unable to provide a category-wise vacancy statement. Consequently, the WBBPE cannot publish a recruitment notification regarding the recruitment of primary teachers. Goutam Pal, president of the WBBPE, said: “Without the category-wise vacancy details, we cannot proceed with publishing the recruitment notification.”

The Board assured that the notification will be issued as soon as the necessary information is received.

This clarification comes after protests by job seekers who passed the 2022 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) but are still awaiting a recruitment notification.

The protesters staged a ‘bekar fair’ (unemployed fair) near Bikash Bhawan in Salt Lake on Tuesday, with participants selling snacks, vegetables, puffed rice and tea. However, Board officials reiterated that passing the TET is only one aspect of the recruitment process for primary teachers.

“TET is one of the criteria in the recruitment process, accounting for five marks out of the total fifty marks allocated across all five criteria.

Merely qualifying the TET does not guarantee a job. A merit-based selection process will follow, and a merit list will be prepared accordingly,” Pal explained.