Bengal: 2014 TET Passed Candidates Stage All-Night Protest in Kolkata

Kolkata: The 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) pass job-seekers staged a 22-hour protest in Kolkata, demanding appointments that have been denied to them. With banners saying: 'We are the victims of 2014 primary corruption', over 1,000 saton all-nigh dharna, claiming that that the jobs had been ‘sold’ to unqualified people.

Arnab Ghosh, joint secretary of the protesting TET Passers' Organisation, told People's Reporter on Tuesday morning that: “Our stand will continue until we get the job appointment letter. Our stand against police terror will continue. A large number of police forces have been deployed in the area.”

Another protester Santu Das alleged: "Even though we passed TET, unqualified people were given jobs by secretly sending SMS. Our only demand is to return our rightful jobs. This movement will continue until the appointment letter is received.”

Mohammad Swab Ansari from Murshudabad, a job-seeker who took part in the protest, said: “The new president of the Primary Education Board is trying to mix up the job aspirants of 2014 and 2017. There is a new plot to create confusion about our jobs.”

The protesters said eight years have passed since they cleared the TET exam, but still they have no jobs. For the past one and a half years, they have been agitating against not been appointed. Now, they have once again taken to the streets to demand jobs.

On Monday, thousands of TET pass job-seekers protested by lying in front of the APJ Building, Salt Lake, the head office of the Board of Primary Education, holding placards. However, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) was called in which led to skirmishes.

Several job aspirants, such as Tanima Das of Pashchim Medinipur, Jhuma Haldar of Malda, Rakhi Kole of Purba Medinipur, Debasmita Mandal of South 24 Parganas fell ill on the spot, unable to bear the excessive heat, said some protesters. They also claimed that the police detained some of them by forcibly pushing them into prison vans.

Meanwhile, four protesters were stopped from from submitting a memorandum at the APC building, and have threatened to stage a hunger strike if they are not appointed.

One of the protesters told People’s Reporter: "We are trained non-included job aspirants who passed TET 2014. Why are we being asked to appear again for interviews? We will not accept this."

She added: "As per the Chief Minister's announcement, we gave the second interview. She said there would be 20,000 appointments. But we found out through RTI (Right to Information) that only 13,000 appointments have been made. The remaining 7,000 appointments have not yet been made."

Meanwhile, Indrajit Ghosh, a leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions met the protesters at the dharna site around midnight. “The boys and girls were sitting and sleeping under the open sky and the thieves are sleeping at home. We will make them sleepless. Thieves should be jailed. Jobs should be given to those who are qualified. The fight will continue,” he said.