WBSSC to give recommendation letters to teachers

Kolkata: The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) is expected to start issuing recommendation letters from November 1, to eligible teachers for reinstatement to their previous posts, officials confirmed on Wednesday.

These teachers were among those whose appointments were cancelled following the Supreme Court’s April 3 order that annulled around 26,000 recruitments of teachers and non-teaching staff made through the 2016 selection process. The court, however, allowed eligible appointees who were not found to be “tainted” to return to their earlier posts in government departments or autonomous bodies.

According to officials, nearly 4,300 teachers across primary, upper primary, secondary and madrasah categories have sought reinstatement. For 548 teachers whose earlier services fall under the purview of the WBSSC, document verification was completed on October 25. The Commission is now preparing to issue recommendation letters.

A senior WBSSC official said: “We are trying to issue the recommendations by November 1.”

The official clarified that there will be no counselling for these candidates to select schools, as there is no merit-based ranking involved.

However, officials at the state School Education Department said the vacancy list sent to the Commission already includes the names of the subdivisions where the teachers are currently posted. This, they noted, would help the Commission recommend schools that match each candidate’s subject, category, gender and medium without much difficulty.

The Commission currently has detailed vacancy data from 35,726 schools across the state.