Upper primary job aspirants clash with police near Mamata Banerjee's residence over protests seeking appointment

The candidates claimed that they cleared the TET in 2014 but were not called at the interview. They sought CM's intervention demanding recruitment on the basis of scores in merit list.

Kolkata:Several candidates, who claimed to have cleared Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014 clashed with police after being dragged away for staging a protest near West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's residence in Kalighat on Friday. The protesters alleged of not being called at the interview session despite clearing the test.

Hundreds of job seekers gathered at the foot of Matangini Hazra statue staging a protest this morning. When the protesters started marching towards Banerjee's residence, they were stopped by a huge contingent of police force. Several women squatted on the street in protest but Kolkata police dragged them to the prison van following which, some protesters got into a scuffle with police personnel.

The TET was held in 2014, result were published in 2015 and the interviews were scheduled in 2016. The protesters claimed that they were not called in the interviews despite clearing the test. According to the West Bengal Board of Primary Education, a total of 20,01,301 candidates had appeared in the 2014 TET of which, 1,24,952 cleared the exam but the final panel included names of only 42,627 candidates.

The 2014 TET candidates have been protesting under the Matangini Hazra statue for the last 554 days. On the 555th day of their protest, the candidates demanded a transparent recruitment process to enable them to get employed on the basis of the merit list. "The government is increasing the allowances and salaries of MLAs, but teachers are not being appointed. We appeal to the Chief Minister for transparency in recruitment so that we no longer have to sit on the streets and protest," a protester said.

They claimed that they are all eligible candidates and many of them have already crossed the maximum age-limit for recruitment. They demanded that the Chief Minister should intervene and appoint them on the basis of their scores in the merit list.