Semi-naked Procession of Teachers in Kolkata
A semi-naked procession of teachers in Kolkata today protests job losses from a state-sponsored scam. This unprecedented display highlights the plight of 19,000 educators after a Supreme Court ruling invalidated appointments, leading to police action.
Kolkata, the City of Joy has just added one more feather to its cap; a semi-naked procession of teachers that the Mamata Banerjee-led government tried hard to nip in the bud.
It may appear highly fictitious; but not quite so. Because we’ve heard of and witnessed such identical protests in some parts of the West and European countries. But in the land of Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose!!! Not even during the Freedom Struggle, provided the historians don’t prove me wrong.
The accompanying videos and photographs are ample evidence to showcase the latest plight of education in West Bengal. Many would like to attach a much derogatory expression and I quote “Waste Bengal.”
Unprecedented Scenario Since Independence
Well, it’s something unprecedented since India achieved freedom in the last century; a large number of teachers taking off their shirts and trousers in a unique vein of protest demanding immediate reinstatement without undergoing fresh recruitment examinations as stipulated by the Supreme Court.
The Central Park in the posh location of Salt Lake in east Kolkata and two other locations in the city have actually turned into a sort of battle ground today ( May 30,2025); police in battle gear were seen cane-charging the protesting teachers for resorting to ‘acts of nuisance in public places’.
But then, why do these large numbers of teachers, nearly 19,000 of them belonging to government -aided schools across the state, have been protesting on the street for the past several days? And why, as a last resort, they decided to take the extreme step?
Genesis of the Semi-Naked Procession of Teachers
If one has to delve into the past and dig into the genesis of it, it would be quite voluminous. To put it in a nutshell, the teachers’ agitation follows the Supreme Court’s April 3, 2025 ruling that invalidated 25,753 teaching and non-teaching appointments made through the 2016 School Service Commission recruitment. The apex court found such widespread irregularities as rank jumping, tampering of a large number of the OMR sheets to facilitate backdoor entry of candidates through bribes among others.
Now the point is, can we completely disregard the argument of the teachers identified as worthy and not tainted by the top court? Because, the ‘worthy’ teachers claim they must not be subjected to gross injustice by the state government.
Points Raised by the Teachers Forum
The Deserving Teachers Rights Forum (DTRF) has raised some vital points which can’t be ignored altogether. I am listing just some of them below for the perusal of the readers.
#A. If someone can lose his or her permanent government job due to institutional corruption, what is the meaning of the security of the employee under Article 21?
#B. If the School Service Commission (SSC) under the alleged patronage of the ruling government indulges in rampant corrupt means to appoint teachers, why would the non-tainted teachers be victimised by the top court for no fault of theirs?
#C. If the SSC, at the alleged behest of the state authorities, deliberately opted to obfuscate the recruitment process before the Supreme Court by failing to segregate the untainted from the tainted employees, can the apex court put the axe on the deserving employees as well?
#D. What is the fault of the untainted employees who had so far been teaching with sincerity and dedication?
# E. The top court had cancelled the entire panel and directed the state government to organise fresh recruitment exams and complete the entire process of appointment within December 31, 2025. Why will the eligible teachers have to go through the recruitment process and pay the price for the gross irregularities of the SSC?
The state government released the notification for fresh examination which triggered a groundswell of anger among the ‘eligible’ teachers who have vowed to continue their protests till the authorities submit to their demand.
A Twist in the Tale
And please wait; there is more of a twist in the tale than eyes can believe. The state chief minister went a step forward (sorry, several steps!); she held out another dole for the tainted pack. The state government, she announced, would shortly be creating new posts in various departments to ‘accommodate’ the pack because they have been debarred by the court from appearing in fresh recruitment examinations.
So much so for now; a question has been going round the legal corridors here; whether the government has any legal sanctity to arrange fresh appointments in state departments for those who have already been identified as tainted by the Supreme Court and proved so by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)?
Only time will let us know….
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