Classroom breather but admin logjam worry for schools
Times of India | 18 April 2025
1234 Kolkata: The Supreme Court order allowing the ‘untainted' teachers to return to school till fresh appointments are made by the year-end has given schools the much-needed breather. The massive staff crunch that several schools faced following the earlier SC order on the immediate dismissal of all teachers appointed by the 2016 School Service Commission can now be addressed, with around 15,415 ‘untainted' teachers set to return to school.
However, several schools pointed out that there remains confusion regarding the rejoining of Group C and D staff, as the court's order does not mention anything about them. West Bengal Headmasters' Association said without these staff, daily functioning and administrative work at many schools will take a hit.
Bhawanipur Mitra Institution headmaster Raja Dey said, "The top court's order on Thursday provided a breather for the school as our Bengali teacher and maths teacher are set to return. Earlier, we were hesitant to ask them to come to school, but now they can take classes, and we can also assign them to correct answer scripts. There is no need to make changes in the routine to tide over the staff crunch."
Sushen Kumar Mandal, headmaster of Garden Reach Mudiali High School (Boys), felt that the SC's order has brought "temporary relief" for the school. "My school lost four teachers, and without them, it was very difficult to conduct regular classes. With the court's order on Thursday, they informed me that they will return to school from Saturday," said Mandal.
Headmaster of Kanakanagar SD Institution, Pulak Roy Chowdhury, expressed concern over the school's only Group C staff with computer skills losing the job. "My Group C staff used to upload documents, maintain data, and handle details and paperworks of all govt schemes. Without him, it is impossible to carry out this humongous task. Non-teaching staff are part of the school, and without them, the execution of these administrative works cannot be done in rural schools. I would request the education department to provide a support system for this purpose," said Roy Chowdhury, adding that he is hopeful of getting back his education teacher and maths teacher from Saturday.
The headmistress of a Howrah school said that she was "clueless" about managing the school without any non-teaching staff.
Headmistress of Gokarna Nritya Gopal Girls' High School (HS), Baisakhi Chattopadhyay, hailed the apex court's order for the interest of the students. "I have personally got in touch with them, and four of my teachers will return to school. At least for this academic session, we do not have to bank on stop-gap solutions like merging sections. I can only hope that fresh appointments are completed by year-end to save the education system from collapsing," said Chattopadhyay.
Krishnachandrapur High School headmaster Chandan Kumar Maiti said, "Out of 54 teachers, we lost eight following the SC order, among whom seven were science teachers. They got temporary relief after this order, and we are hopeful that they will return to school next week. However, the state should act according to the SC order to avoid further complications."
Schools that were waiting for a concrete order from the state govt are now hopeful that after this order, the state will issue an order soon. Several school heads expressed that the Supreme Court order will help them upload salary-related documents to the portal, but at the same time, many of them are concerned about how to segregate the ‘untainted' since a detailed list was not released by the state.
Jadavpur Vidyapith's only computer science teacher was among those affected. The school headmaster, Partha Pratim Baidya, said, "We hope that the school education department will release an order based on today's Supreme Court order. So, I am looking forward to it." Narayan Das Bangur Multipurpose School headmaster, Sanjay Barua, said, "The only chemistry teacher who lost his job following the SC order has been reinstated now, but I can only request him to attend school after receiving a formal letter from the state."
A school headmistress said, "The order made it clear that these teachers are eligible to get salaries now, but how do I know who is eligible and who is not? These things need to be clarified by the state as soon as possible."