While sweets are distributed and new clothes are worn on Bengali New Year, the occasion looks different for teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal who recently lost their jobs due to a Supreme Court order.

Surojit Pramanik, a non-teaching staff member at a school in Krishnanagar told The Indian Express, “I had taken a loan and bought a flat. We were supposed to have the house warming ceremony today but that will not happen any longer. I don’t even know if I will be able to pay back the loan I have taken.”

The Supreme Court had annulled the appointments of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff recruited through the 2016 School Service Commission (SSC) examinations, terming the entire selection process “vitiated and tainted”.

Aparajita Panda, who is a teacher at a Naihati school, said the majority of her salary used to go towards her mother’s cancer treatment. “For me, the biggest question is where will I get the money to pay for the medicines?”

“Bengali New Year is when I buy new clothes for my parents, wife and my five-year-old daughter. This year, I was not able to give them anything. I need to keep that money for food. In fact, my daughter is telling me that she does not want new clothes. I am at a loss; I have failed as a father. My family is suffering because of the corruption of some others,” lamented Sham Singha, a non-teaching staff member at a school in North 24 Parganas.

Ashit Kumar Ari, a teacher based in South 24 Parganas, told mediapersons, “What is our fault? Has anyone come and visited us? They are holding rallies for the new year but have they even thought about us and what our future holds? This new year brings no happiness for us. It will be a new year when we get our jobs back.”

Recently, the teaching and non-teaching staff who lost their jobs decided to go on a month-long series of protests, demanding for their jobs back with dignity.