Teaching aspirants hope for fair selection as a fruitful result of their hard work
Telegraph | 15 September 2025
Those who took the teacher-selection examination for Classes XI and XII on Sunday afternoon hoped that the selection process would be just.
Some took the test because their jobs as school teachers at the primary level (Classes I to V) have come under legal scrutiny at Calcutta High Court following complaints of irregularities at screening and wanted a school teacher job at the higher secondary level as an alternative option.
Soumi Mondal, 27, who has completed BSc and MSc in geography and was writing the selection test for the first time said she hoped that merit will be counted during the evaluation, leading to a fair selection. She did her BSc in geography from Budge Budge College, followed by an MSc from Rabindra Bharati University and a BEd from Uluberia University.
“This time, I expect that the recruitment process will be held in a transparent manner and that merit will truly count. After so much waiting, all we want is a fair chance,” said Soumi who took the test at the Jadavpur Vidyapith centre..
Piyali Biswas, 34, a primary school teacher at Aryya Vidyamandir in Behala, also wrote the test at the same centre.
She cleared Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) in 2021 conducted by the state primary education board following a notification in 2017 and was appointed as a teacher after cracking the interview.
But Piyali is among the 32,000 primary school teachers whose appointment have come under legal scrutiny following complaints of alleged irregularities.
“Our matter is still sub judice. After the Supreme Court terminated the jobs of teachers at the secondary and higher secondary level in April, I got worried,” said Piyali.
Piyali who has completed BSC from Vivekananda College for Women in geography and MSC from Calcutta University and holds a BEd degree, had taken the secondary-level test on September 7 as well.
Candidates from outside Bengal, mainly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, appeared for the tests in large numbers.
Dinesh Kumar Pal, 37, a PhD scholar, travelled from Allahabad to take the teachers’ recruitment test in Bengal.
He has completed his graduation and post-graduation in Hindi from Allahabad University, MPhil from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith University and also cracked the Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) test held by the UGC.
He even holds two BEd degrees.
“I want to secure a government job in whichever state I can. The last teachers’ recruitment test in Uttar Pradesh was held in 2021. Since then, nothing has happened...,” he said.