The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has received an overwhelming response to its latest recruitment drive, with close to 5.9 lakh candidates applying for assistant teacher posts in state-run and state-aided secondary and higher secondary schools.
“This year, between 5.8 and 5.9 lakh applications have come in for assistant teacher positions,” confirmed WBSSC Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar.
The numbers are almost double compared to the 2016 recruitment cycle, which had seen around 3.16 lakh applications, 1.41 lakh for Classes 9 and 10, and 1.75 lakh for Classes 11 and 12.
The surge in applications comes after a Supreme Court order in April this year directed the state government and WBSSC to restart the hiring process following the cancellation of over 25,000 appointments made in 2016. These appointments were deemed invalid after the court flagged irregularities in the earlier recruitment process. The apex court asked the commission to complete the new recruitment drive by December 31, 2025.
In line with the court’s directive, the WBSSC launched the online application portal on June 16, with the registration window closing on July 21. The recruitment will fill a total with 35,726 teaching vacancies across West Bengal’s secondary and higher secondary schools.
Despite some backlash from a section of former teachers who lost their jobs due to the court verdict and had initially said they would boycott the new exams, the response has been robust. Many teachers who were not found guilty of any wrongdoing in the 2016 appointments have reapplied.
According to WBSSC officials, around 13,000 of the 15,403 teachers who were cleared of any misconduct and allowed to continue temporarily until fresh recruitment have now applied again through the ongoing process. These teachers are set to appear for the upcoming State Level Selection Test (SLST).
The Calcutta High Court had earlier greenlit the fresh recruitment process, endorsing the stricter, student-centric rules introduced this time around.
With the application phase now over, all eyes are on SLST and how the commission executes the next steps in this high-stakes hiring process.
(With PTI inputs)
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