Teacher Recruitment Test in West Bengal: West Bengal witnessed one of its most significant recruitment examinations in recent years as the School Level Selection Test (SLST) for assistant teachers of classes 9 and 10 was conducted across the state. More than 3 lakh aspirants appeared at nearly 636 centres, but the striking detail was the presence of 31,000 candidates from outside Bengal, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
For a state already grappling with the fallout of a major teacher recruitment scam and years of legal challenges, the sheer scale of turnout—and the migration of candidates from other states—sparked a heated political battle.
Outsiders in a Bengal Exam: A Mirror of India’s Job Crisis
At exam centres in Kolkata, Howrah, and North 24 Parganas, long queues of hopefuls could be seen, many of them speaking in Hindi. Candidates had travelled hundreds of kilometres, often by overnight trains, carrying tiffin boxes and backpacks filled with books and admit cards.
One candidate from Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, said: “I have B.Ed and M.Sc qualifications but in UP, opportunities are few and far between. West Bengal at least opened a door.”
Another aspirant from Bihar added: “We face baton charges back home when we protest for jobs. Here, at least, we are being allowed to compete.”
Their voices underscored not just Bengal’s role as a testing ground for employment but also the widening unemployment crisis in northern India. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), unemployment in UP and Bihar remains consistently above the national average, forcing many qualified youth to migrate in search of jobs. (CMIE Data)
The Shadow of the 2016 Recruitment Scam
This exam could not be viewed in isolation. It followed the infamous 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, one of the largest education-related corruption cases in India.
- In that scandal, 25,753 appointments were declared illegal by the courts.
- Former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee and several officials were arrested for alleged irregularities, including cash-for-jobs deals.
- The Supreme Court of India recently upheld the cancellation of those appointments and ordered fresh recruitment through transparent examinations. (Supreme Court Judgments)
The present SLST was the first large-scale attempt to rebuild credibility in the process. Candidates tainted by the earlier scandal—over 1,800 individuals—were barred from applying.
Teacher Recruitment Test in West Bengal: Politics in the Examination Hall
The unexpected participation of thousands of outsiders became an immediate political flashpoint.
- The Trinamool Congress (TMC) accused the BJP governments in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar of failing to create jobs, forcing young people to migrate.
- On social media, TMC leaders described the sight of UP students in Bengal exam halls as proof that so-called “double engine governments”—a phrase the BJP uses for states where both the Centre and state are under its rule—had “bulldozed the dreams of their youth.”
- One TMC post read: “In UP, instead of jobs, students get police batons. In Bengal, they get opportunities.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) countered by pointing to the corruption-tainted legacy of the Bengal education system. Party leaders said: “These exams are happening only because the courts intervened and cancelled the fraudulent recruitment done by the TMC government. Lakhs of Bengal’s own students lost years to corruption.”
Thus, the teacher recruitment test became less about education and more about narratives of governance, unemployment, and accountability.
Logistics, Security, and Scale
The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) deployed unprecedented security arrangements:
- Three-tier verification at entry points.
- Biometric attendance of candidates.
- Barcoded question papers unique to each centre.
- Prohibitions on mobile phones, smartwatches, and even pens carried from outside.
According to officials, the turnout was 91%—one of the highest ever recorded for a state-level exam in Bengal. The smooth conduct of the exam provided some relief to administrators, who had feared disruptions or allegations of malpractice.
The next round, for teachers of classes 11 and 12, is scheduled for later this month.
Candidates Between Hope and Anxiety
For the lakhs who sat the exam, the test symbolized more than just a job opportunity. For many, it was a fight for dignity and survival.
- Local candidates expressed frustration that outsiders were competing for Bengal jobs, though the state cannot legally bar applicants from other states in centrally approved examinations.
- Out-of-state candidates hoped for at least a few hundred posts, acknowledging the competition but desperate for any opening.
- Families, particularly in rural Bengal, spoke of selling jewellery and taking loans to pay for coaching, travel, and form fees.
The outcome of this exam will determine futures not just in Bengal but across multiple states.
Protests, Hunger Strikes, and Court Battles
The memory of the past nine years continues to haunt the recruitment process.
- Thousands of unemployed teachers and “untainted” candidates have staged sit-ins, marches, and hunger strikes across Kolkata.
- Clashes with police have sometimes turned violent, with tear gas and barricades marking confrontations at Nabanna, the state secretariat.
- The Bengal cabinet has provided temporary stipends—₹25,000 per month for Group C and ₹20,000 for Group D—to some affected by the scam, but protest groups insist this is only a stopgap.
For them, this fresh exam is not just about recruitment but also about restoring faith in the system.
What This Means for Bengal and Beyond
The influx of outstation candidates reflects a pan-Indian churn in employment patterns. Bengal, despite its own unemployment struggles, is seen as a refuge for those failed by their home states.
This dynamic raises multiple questions:
- Should Bengal prioritize its own candidates, or uphold open competition?
- Can recruitment in one state become a safety valve for unemployment crises in others?
- Does political point-scoring on job scarcity dilute focus from the urgent need for structural reform in recruitment processes?
Looking Forward
With results yet to be declared, the teacher recruitment exam is already a political case study. It intertwines:
- Judicial intervention – with the Supreme Court dictating fresh processes.
- Governance challenges – exposing the consequences of corruption and delay.
- Electoral politics – with both TMC and BJP framing the narrative to suit their battlegrounds.
- Human struggle – of lakhs of young Indians caught between degrees, debt, and despair.
The examination was meant to hire teachers, but it has revealed much more: the fault lines of India’s employment crisis, the vulnerability of institutions to corruption, and the willingness of politics to turn an exam hall into an ideological arena.
External References for Further Context
- CMIE – Unemployment in India Data
- Supreme Court of India – Official Judgments Portal
- West Bengal School Service Commission
- Ministry of Education, Government of India
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