Kolkata, Sep 11 (IANS) West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu, on Thursday, described the protest held by Teacher’s Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified candidates outside the State Assembly as “irrational” and “pointless”.

The statement from the Education Minister came after around 200 TET-qualified candidates held a protest before the state government, demanding immediate recruitment in primary and upper primary schools across West Bengal.

Speaking on the protest, Minister Basu told that the vacancies for TET 2022 will be announced very soon.

“The protest is being done at a time when the West Bengal Primary Education Board has informed a few days ago that the list of vacancies will be announced soon. Most likely, the list will be published in the next two or three days. I don’t know what the purpose is behind this agitation,” he said.

The Education Minister also added, “What they (TET qualified candidates) are saying about vacancies is not right. There is no such thing as 50,000 or 51,000 vacancies at present. Moreover, it has not been disclosed how many vacancies are there. However, they are being fed this information that there are 50,000 or 51,000 vacancies. That is not right.”

He also clarified why it is not possible to comment on the exact number of vacancies for TET candidates right now.

“It comes from the districts. It can be said only after receiving the complete report of the districts,” Minister Basu said.

The Minister, however, assured teaching job seekers in primary schools that the work of preparing the list of vacancies at the district level is almost complete.

“Notification will be issued once the final list is received. Therefore, in this situation, there is no point in protesting right now,” he added.

Earlier on Thursday, the protesters, who held a rally from the Dorina Crossing in Esplanade to the State Assembly in Kolkata, were engaged in a scuffle with policemen after they tried to protest near the Assembly gate.

The protesters holding placards squatted before the Assembly as police personnel took them inside waiting prison vans.

Some of the protesters were seen pleading with policemen to allow them to squat before the Assembly gate.

Nearly 50 protesters were detained, the police said.

–IANS

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