First phase of teachers recruitment in exam in West Bengal held without any glitches

The first phase of examination for recruitment of teachers for Class IX and X was conducted by West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) on Sunday (September 7, 2025) without any major glitches.

WBSSC chairman Siddhartha Majumdar said that around 91% of the 3.19 lakh candidates wrote the examination. Mr. Majumdar said that the total number of outstation candidates who appeared in the examination was more than 31,000. Elaborate security arrangements were in place for the examination, and the candidates were asked to appear two hours before the examination.

The Supreme Court, earlier this year, on April 3, annulled the appointment of about 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff whose recruitment was carried out in 2016.

The untainted teachers whose appointments were annulled by the Supreme Court also appeared in the examination. Some of them wore black clothes in protest of being forced to write the examination. The Supreme Court had directed that the ‘tainted’ candidates would not appear in the examination. At the directions of the apex court, the SSC had come out with a list of about 1806 ‘tainted’ candidates who cannot appear in the examination.

The SSC has recently released a notification to fill 35,726 teaching posts in state-run secondary and higher secondary schools across the state. Of these vacancies, 23,212 posts are for classes IX and X, and 12,514 are for classes XI- XII.

Trinamool Congress leadership highlighted the significant number of candidates from other states taking the examination and said people from all across the country have faith in West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, stating that candidates from states with “double-engine governments”, such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, travelled to the state to take the exam, as recruitment processes in their home states were either stalled or unreliable.

Mr. Ghosh wrote on social media that job seekers from “Yogi Rajya” (Uttar Pradesh) and other states were taking West Bengal’s SSC exams as they faced repeated postponements and a lack of opportunities in their own states. He further stressed that West Bengal has never barred non-residents from writing state recruitment tests.

Another 2.46 lakh candidates will sit for the recruitment test of assistant teachers of classes XI and XII at 478 centres on September 14, the WBSSC chairman said.