As the sit-in protest of teachers who lost their jobs reaches the 30-hour mark in Kolkata, residents have opened their doors to help them, with many others bringing the protesters food.
In front of the School Service Commission office in Salt Lake, some of the women protestors The Indian Express spoke to said, “The state has not cooperated with us in this heat. We are sitting here, sleeping here, leaving our families behind. We are not drinking water because there are no bio-toilets. We can be dehydrated and fall ill but still, the government is not concerned. But we are grateful that some of the homes here have allowed us to use their toilets.”
Meanwhile, a six-member representative of the protesting teachers has gone for a meeting with the SSC chairman. The SSC has sent a list to the Commissioner of School Education — a list of teachers who have not been specifically found to be “tainted”. This list has been forwarded to the District Inspector’s office. The protesting teachers are now questioning why the list cannot be released.
Meanwhile, several people were seen bringing bottles of water and dry food like cake, puffed rice and biscuits for the protesting teachers. Avinash Mondol and his daughter Reena from Salt Lake told The Indian Express, “We stay 5-6 km from here, we came to show our support to the teachers. They are the spine of society; they prepare the future generations. Now they are out fighting for their rights, so we all should stand by them.”
Abhijit Sen, a volunteer representing the West Bengal Joint Doctors forum, said, “We are providing the protesting teachers with water, ORS, cake and biscuits. We had provided khichdi for dinner yesterday (Monday).”
Newspapers and plastic sheets are laid on the road in front of the office. As one looks on, there are ice cream carts, carts carrying fruits and local food vendors, and drinking water tankers from the Bidhannagar Municipality, but no bio-toilets.
Chinmoy Mondol, one of the main faces of the protesting teachers, told The Indian Express, “(State Education Minister) Bratya Basu is showing the Court order now. They did not publish the list. The education minister knows that there has been corruption, but why should we suffer for that? We had given exams. We have not stopped the SSC officials from eating. Instead, we are sending them ORS, watermelons and biscuits so that they remain healthy, but we will not allow them to leave.”
Sita Ganguli, a teacher at the Halisahar Adarsha Vidyapith and an SSC candidate of the 2006 batch, took a holiday on Tuesday to support the protesting candidates.
Soumi Bhattacharya of the 2009 SSC batch, who teaches at the Asutosh Pally Sotodal Siksha Ayotan, has come with five other teachers of the same school to stand by the protesting teachers. “We are the foundation of society. If teachers are not there, then no one can become doctors, lawyers or engineers. These teachers should be in the classroom but they are out on the streets without food and water,” she said.