Among the huge crowd of candidates at the teachers' recruitment exam centre in West Bengal's Midnapore town was Shankar Samanta. An aspiring teacher in his early 30s, Samanta had been waiting for this day since 2021.
“We have hit the streets at least 10 times, have endured police brutality, and many of us still have cases pending against us. Yet, the fact that this exam is finally happening is the best thing that could have happened," Samanta told The Quint.
On Sunday, 7 September, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) held the long-awaited recruitment exam for teachers of Classes 9 and 10 across 636 centers of the state.
But not all were as fortunate as Samanta. There was a caveat.
The exams were held following an undertaking given by the commission that no candidate found to be 'tainted' by the Supreme Court's (SC) earlier judgment in relation to the 2016 cash-for-jobs recruitment scam will be allowed to appear in these fresh recruitment exams. Kuheli Ghosh's name was on the 'tainted' list.
Before her name appeared on the ignominious list, Kuheli worked as a history teacher in Chouhati High school, located in Rajpur Sonarpur Municipality area.
“Before getting this job, I cracked the 2014 Primary TET. Isn’t it enough to prove my merit? Yet, we are tainted in the eyes of the society while those recruited from an expired panel sat for the exam."Kuheli Ghosh, Teacher
The SSC Exam Saga So Far
A total of 3,19,919 candidates appeared in Sunday's exam, according to the Commission, including about 31,000 from outside the state. The exam to select teachers for Classes 11 and 12 will take place on 14 September.
To understand what's happening with the WBSSC recruitments, one must go back to the last teachers' recruitment exam for Classes 9-12, held in 2016. The SSC issued a notification for the exam on 16 February of that year—and the exam was conducted on 27 November. The final panel was published on 12 March 2018. But allegations of massive corruption soon emerged—from rank-jumping to candidates with blank answer sheets securing jobs.
In light of these claims, the Calcutta High Court, and later the SC, ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate to start look into the matter. Based on these investigations, the courts cancelled the appointments of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in April. Former West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and several top SSC officials were jailed on direct charges of involvement in the corruption scam. The SC, however, allowed the teachers to continue till 31 December.
During the hearings, the SSC submitted a list of 6,276 candidates for Groups C and D, whom they suspected of foul play.
Now, after prolonged delays, street protests, and legal battles, the exam to recruit teachers for state schools is being held once again. On 28 August, the SSC identified 1,804 of the 6,276 candidates as “tainted,” barring them from the exams in September.
The list was challenged in the Calcutta HC ahead of the exams. The division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Ritabrata Kumar Mitra maintained the SSC’s original list, denying the ineligible candidates a chance to appear in the examination.
Those like Kuheli Ghosh, at the 647th place on the list, have been left with no recourse but to question the SSC and the courts.
“I sat for the exam in 2016, and got my job in 2019. But it was only in 2022, while undergoing intense media trial, that I came to know about the marks that I scored in that ‘cursed’ exam. Is this situation a candidate’s fault?” she said.
Even those who managed to appear for the exam, like Samanta, questioned the SSC.
“Starting from 2021 to 2025, the SSC has had three different chairpersons. Even after the panel expired, more than 150 people were recruited from it. If we could sense the panel might be cancelled, how could the commission not see it?”Shankar Samanta
Despite the heavy security during Sunday’s exam, candidates remain unsure if a repeat of 2016 will be avoided. Many leaving the centres told the media, “There’s no question of trusting the state government or the commission," Samanta said. They fear, even if the exam is fair, the merit list and counselling process may be manipulated yet again.
The Humiliation of Forced Re-evaluation
Meanwhile, teachers stripped of their jobs because of the ruling asked why the rest must suffer, even after the official categorisation of the 'tainted'. Samarjit Mondal, who teaches chemistry and appeared for the exam on Sunday, said the whole experience was "humiliating".
Mondal became a teacher at Howarmari High School in Canning-II block, South 24 Parganas in 2008. But since his home was nearly two and a half hours away from the school, Mondal was seeking a transfer to a school closer home.
"Back then, one had to sit for fresh exams in case one wanted a transfer. It was only in 2018 that the state government launched the Utsashree portal for transfer requests near one’s home,” Mondal explained to The Quint. "So I sat for the 2016 exam, and without paying a single penny in bribes, my name made it to the list. I would never have sought a transfer, had I known then that re-appearing for the exam would lead to termination." he lamented.
Currently a teacher at Gangapuri School in Tollygunge, Mondal lamented, “My current school was selected as an examination venue. But I had to skip my invigilation duties in order to appear as a candidate elsewhere. As a teacher, my head hangs in shame.”
"If they identified 1,800 as ‘tainted,’ why force everyone else back into the exam hall?” asked another teacher Debabrata Naskar, who had secured a political science teacher’s post at Duttarchak Higher Secondary School in Mathurapur, South 24 Parganas, after the 2016 exam.
“This Teacher’s Day, I couldn’t even go to school. How could I face my students? Senior students understand, but what about Class 6 kids? They kept asking until the last minute. This pain is beyond words.”Debabrata Naskar
'Tainted' vs 'Untainted' Debate and the Judicial Process
For Naskar, the deeper resentment lies with the judiciary. “Even if we accept that 99 percent of this mess is due to the state government and the SSC, the court cannot escape responsibility," he said.
The teachers argue that despite the SSC’s massive fraud, the courts have entrusted it again with the future of lakhs of candidates. In their eyes, the judiciary has shielded the government. Many genuinely qualified candidates secured jobs. The court, they said, could have rewarded those who proved their merit despite corruption, but chose not to.
Krishnagopal Chakraborty, a chemistry teacher from Deuli Kalashbar Ramakrishna Vidyapith in Sabang, West Midnapore, will sit for the exam on 14 September. “Even if we take the exam, we won’t abandon our fight for the release of an ‘untainted’ list,” he said.
“We submitted a deputation to the current SSC chairperson Siddhartha Majumdar, urging him to at least save our honour if he cannot save our jobs. He promised but never released the list. We’ll secure it eventually.”Krishnagopal Chakraborty, Teacher
The Quint reached out to the office of the current SSC Chairperson on email as well as personal text regarding the allegations made by teachers and candidates, but has not heard back on the queries yet.
The dismissed teachers on the 'tainted' list, meanwhile, plan to resume protests after the exam. Many have already marched to the SSC headquarters and Nabanna demanding reinstatement.
"The division bench of Justice Debangshu Basak in the Calcutta HC had specified certain requirements such as rank-jumping, recruited from expired panel, or bagging the job by submitting blank OMRs [optical mark recognition] as the basis for identifying as a tainted candidate," Kuheli Ghosh told The Quint.
This sequencing was upheld by Justice Soumen Sen of the same court, as well as the SC. "I don’t fall under any of those categories. Yet, my name is there on the tainted list. Is it not a travesty of justice?” she asked.
Further, the CBI had also filed a similar list in 2022. Ghost asserts that her name was on that list too well. "I challenged that list on the ground of arbitrariness and requested the court to instruct the CBI to summon and interrogate me. Nothing happened.”
Exam Politics
Lawyer and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who earlier fought for deprived candidates in both the Calcutta HC and the SC, holds a different view on the debate.
“A systematic fraud took place,” he said to The Quint. “The court listed only those with proven active involvement in the corruption as 'tainted'. Not being on the list doesn’t automatically mean someone isn’t connected to the corruption.”
On grievances of the dismissed teachers, he added:
"Why didn’t they (the dismissed teachers) petition the SC to have some other agency conduct the exam instead of the SSC? The court cannot simply exclude a statutory body. Corruption like this destroys society’s moral fabric. Strict action was the only choice, and the courts did just that."Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya
Meanwhile, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continues efforts to “save” those marked tainted. Even after the SC barred them from the September exams, the SSC issued admit cards to 184 such candidates. TMC MP and SSC counsel Kalyan Banerjee urged the Calcutta HC to let them appear. The court rejected this, directing them to approach the SC.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, however, made the most telling remark on Thursday.
“To those who have lost jobs, I say, do not lose hope. While we may not be able to restore teaching positions, we’re exploring every possible way to place you in Group C or D roles. We are seeking active legal consultations in this matter.”Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal
Incidentally, Kuheli is a TMC councilor from ward number 18 of the same urban body. She's frustrated by the role played by the SSC, and expressed her dissatisfatisfaction with Kalyan Banerjee. Many of the dismissed candidates felt that the leader intially tried to appear on the side of the candidates and undermined the method in which the tainted and untainted lists were made.
But once he stood for the SSC, "he readily accepted that same list he once claimed to be erroneous”.
Ordinary candidates like Samanta, however, want no part in this administrative tug-of-war.
“I am losing my years as an academic. It won't be long before I won’t be able to sit for any government exams anymore,” he said. But he and his cohorts are not the only bunch to suffer. No new teachers for Classes 9 and 12 have been recruited in nine years. The impact of this has been felt by students in rural schools. Dropout rates have risen as classes are not held regularly due to the lack of teachers.
Meanwhile, the dismissed teachers know they have a tough road ahead. Kuheli said, "I am preparing for a legal battle now. I know it might take time, but I will fight."
(Anindya Hazra is an independent journalist covering politics in West Bengal.)