Kolkata, Sep 14 (IANS) The second round of the State Level Selection Test (SLST), conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), will be held on Sunday.

The exam for the recruitment of teachers for Classes 11 and 12 (Higher Secondary) will start at noon. The exam will end at 1.30 p.m. However, the specially-abled candidates will be given an extra 30 minutes.

There are 12,514 vacancies for Classes 11 and 12. The total number of candidates appearing for the second round SLST is around 2,46,000. The total number of examination centres is 478.

WBSSC has instructed all candidates to reach the exam centre by 10 a.m. The candidates will receive the question paper and answer sheet at 11.45 a.m. No electronic devices will be allowed in the exam centres.

The first round of SLST was conducted without a glitch on September 7. Over 3.19 lakh candidates appeared in the first round of the exam.

State Education Minister Bratya Basu said, “We have informed the WBSSC accordingly as per the instructions given by the Chief Minister. I want to assure all the examinees that the administration has taken strong measures at the highest level to hold the exam without any mistakes.

“You should take the exam in a calm mind. From our side, from the department as well as the Chief Minister’s side, WBSSC has made preparations at the highest level to hold the exam smoothly. I hope that the exam will end peacefully and without any problems,” he said

According to WBSSC, the SLST is being conducted to fill up 35,726 teaching posts for Classes 9-10 and 11-12. Of these vacancies, 23,212 posts are for Classes 9 and 10, and 12,514 are for Classes 11 and 12. The overall number of applicants for the two phases of recruitment has crossed 5.65 lakh.

The fresh examination is being held in the backdrop of a teacher recruitment scam which rocked West Bengal politics for the last few years. Several people, including former state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool MLA Jiban Krishna Saha and several officers of the state education department, were arrested by the central investigation agencies for indulging in massive corruption to help candidates get teaching jobs in exchange for money and also by the manipulation of OMR sheets.

These candidates had appeared in the 2016 SLST exam, the last time the WBSSC held a recruitment exam to fill teaching posts in Classes 9-10 and 11-12.

The Supreme Court, on April 3, annulled the appointment of about 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff whose recruitment was carried out following the 2016 selection process.

The fresh exams are being held following a Supreme Court order, which also barred the previous panel’s (2016) tainted and ineligible candidates from appearing in the fresh exam.

On August 30, the WBSSC, as per the Supreme Court’s order, published the list of names of 1,806 tainted candidates who had bagged teaching jobs through the recruitment scam.

–IANS

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