Kolkata, May 29 (IANS) The “untainted” or “genuine” teachers of state-run schools in West Bengal, protesting the loss of their jobs following a Supreme Court order last month, announced that they would be organising a “March to State Secretariat” on Friday.

The protesting teachers would start assembling at Sealdah from 11 a.m. on Friday and thereafter start the protest march towards the state Secretariat, Nabanna, located at Mandirtala in Howrah district, adjacent to Kolkata.

The unique point of the rally will be that the protester will keep certain portions of their bodies bare during the rally as a symbolic mark of protest.

“The evolving situation has stripped the ‘untainted’ teachers. That’s is why we have decided to keep some portions of our bodies bare as a symbolic protest during our rally towards the Secretariat on Friday,” said Chinmay Mondal, the convener of the “Jogyo Shikshak-Shikshika Adhikar Mancha” (Genuine Teachers’ Rights Forum), the umbrella body under which the “genuine” teachers had been protesting since last month.

Incidentally, on Friday, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) is scheduled to issue notification for the fresh recruitment for the vacancies arising out of the cancellation of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching jobs following the Supreme Court order last month, which also directed the state government to start the fresh recruitment process by May 31.

Earlier this week, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that WBSSC’s notification for fresh recruitments to vacant posts for teaching and non-teaching jobs will be issued on May 30. She also stated that even the “untainted” teachers, who had lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order in the cash-for-job case, would have to appear for the written examination for recruitment.

On April 3, a Supreme Court Bench, while upholding the Calcutta High Court order which annulled 25,753 school appointments made through the WBSSC, also directed the state government to start a fresh recruitment process by issuing notifications or advertisements for the same by May 31.

Since the teachers who had got their jobs without paying any money had been insisting that they would not appear for a fresh written examination, the Chief Minister said that, after the Supreme Court’s order, there was no other option before them but to appear for the test.

–IANS

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