In relief to thousands of teaching job aspirants, including those whose appointments were invalidated by a Supreme Court order, the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Friday evening released the results of the State Level Selection Test (SLST) for assistant teachers in classes 11-12, after nine‑year gap.
The results, uploaded on the commission’s official portal, pave the way for filling over 12,000 assistant teacher vacancies in state-run and state-aided schools.
A total of 2,29,606 candidates appeared for the exams across 478 centres in 35 subjects, with each candidate able to view their score out of 60 on the commission’s website https://westbengalssc.com, the WBSSC said. The next stage involves document verification, which will follow publication of the preliminary interview list. The schedule will be notified soon.
Expressing satisfaction over the development, State Education Minister Bratya Basu said the examination was conducted in a transparent manner, bringing new hope to thousands of candidates.
“Under the guidance of Hon’ ble Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and with the sincere cooperation of the state and district administrations, the examination was conducted with full transparency and has opened new hopes for aspirants,” he said in a post on X.
Basu described the result publication as more than a routine administrative step, calling it “a unique stride forward” toward fulfilling the government’s promise to complete fresh recruitments by December. “There is no reason for anxiety. The state government stands by you in every way. Every action will be taken with complete transparency and fairness, and we assure you that your merit, dedication and patience will always be valued and respected,” he said.
In April this year, the Supreme Court had ordered the termination of jobs of 25,753 teaching and non-teaching staff at the government-aided schools at the secondary and higher secondary levels, terming the 2016 SSC recruitment process “vitiated and tainted”. The apex court later allowed “untainted” employees to draw salaries until December, while 1,804 remained barred and the Commission was asked to publish a list of the barred “tainted” candidates. The Calcutta High Court in July rejected the Commission’s and state’s plea to let tainted teachers re‑apply. Consequently, the WBSSC set exam dates in July and, on August 30, posted the names and roll numbers of 1,806 “tainted” candidates on its website.
The upcoming recruitment will fill 23,312 posts for Classes 9‑10 and 12,514 posts for Classes 11‑12.
Meanwhile, some candidates moved Calcutta High Court regarding the stage when prior teaching experience marks was to be added to the SLST exam score — before calling shortlisted candidates for interview or after it. Two marks are assigned for each teaching year, up to a maximum of five years.
On Friday, a single bench of Justice Amrita Sinha permitted the SSC to publish the results of the 2nd State SLST 2025 written examination, but reserved judgment on whether the 10 marks for prior teaching experience should be added to the written scores before or after the interview.
Document verification will commence after preliminary interview list is released, the commission said, adding that schedule will be notified soon. The commission assured that final appointment orders will be issued after all legal formalities are completed.
Justice Sinha observed “as certain cases with regard to the awarding of 10 marks are pending consideration, the result of the examination will abide by the result of the petitions.”
Justice Sinha directed all the parties to exchange affidavits including intervening applications, and produce documents of the matter pending with the Supreme Court and also for the stage of hearing before the next hearing date on November 12.
Counsel for the petitioners prayed for adding the score of candidates for prior teaching experience after the interview because the petitioners, mainly freshers, feared that in-service teachers would get an advantage over the new candidates before the interview was held if the score for teaching experience was added to the written score ahead of the interview.