Upper Primary counselling sees 27.8% absenteeism on day 1

Kolkata: The first day of the second phase of counselling for the recruitment of assistant teachers at the Upper Primary level witnessed a notable absenteeism rate of 27.8 per cent.

Of the 446 waitlisted candidates called, 124 either failed to attend or declined to accept the job offer.

On Tuesday, candidates for English and Geography were called for the second phase of counselling.

According to officials from the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), 67 out of 218 candidates for English were either absent or refused the offer. Similarly, 57 out of 228 Geography candidates did not attend or declined the offer.

The first phase of counselling, completed on November 27, saw 6,680 of the 8,749 merit-listed candidates receive recommendation letters.

However, 2,069 candidates did not attend or declined to accept the

recommendation letters, translating to approximately 23.64 per cent who did not take the job.

The West Bengal School Service Commission is conducting the second phase of counselling from December 17 to 23, excluding Saturday and Sunday, to fill the remaining vacancies.

A total of 2,595 waitlisted candidates out of 5,217 have been called for this phase.

Upper Primary candidates expect the high rate of absenteeism to continue in the second phase and

demand a swift third phase of counselling for the remaining vacancies.

“With so many candidates being absent or refusing, we earnestly request the immediate conduct of the third counselling for the waitlisted candidates,” stated Sushanta Ghosh, president of the Paschim Banga Upper Primary Chakriparthi Mancha.