State Education Minister Bratya Basu stated on Monday that none of the candidates who are demonstrating in the streets would be hired. “Jobs are granted based on merit and qualification of an individual and not on the basis of their protest,” Basu said in a statement to the media.
“[Protest] does not guarantee employment for all those who are agitating. Jobs will be awarded based on a candidate’s qualifications and merit. Do all persons who pass the NET and other comparable tests find employment? According on how highly ranked they are, candidates get hired. Similar to that, people with better grades and greater qualifications will be hired, according to Basu.
For approximately 600 days, several SSC and TET candidates have been protesting and holding sit-ins in order to demand teaching positions at state-run schools. They claimed that despite earning the necessary marks; they were denied legitimate teaching jobs and that positions were instead granted to applicants who did not appear on the merit list.
Regarding the candidates’ protest, the education minister stated, “We will conduct the recruiting process in accordance with the honourable Calcutta High Court’s instructions. However, we must create new requirements for the younger generation. The next generation won’t have work if we keep getting stalled in the hiring process because of prior errors. Instead of encouraging candidates to stage protests, it is time for opposition parties to take this into consideration. The entire procedure will become more difficult if protests are organised or the hiring process is slowed down by legal petitions.
The education minister received criticism from the BJP for his comments. “He made a mistake by inadvertently conveying through his statements the anger of the state government. Will candidates receive jobs in exchange for cash if they cannot be hired through protest? In this area, jobs were sold in the educational field. Investigations by the CBI and ED have demonstrated this. Leaders of the TMC and a [then] state minister have both been detained. According to BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya, deserving candidates would continue to demonstrate on the streets in an effort to be hired.