Bengal’s non-teaching school staff protest job loss, demand justice

Non-teaching staff stage a sit-in protest outside the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) office at Karunamoyee crossing in Salt Lake. on April 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: DEBASISH BHADURI

KOLKATA 

Hundreds of non-teaching staff from government-run schools in West Bengal who lost their jobs and are facing an uncertain future following a Supreme Court order on April 3 have been protesting outside the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) office in Salt Lake.

While the Supreme Court allowed “untainted” teachers to continue working until year-end, non-teaching staff were offered no such reprieve, leaving them feeling abandoned and betrayed.

The protest has intensified with eight members launching an indefinite hunger strike after failed discussions with WBBSE officials. They are refusing even water. Kaushik Mondal collapsed and was rushed to Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday.

Amit Mondal, a Group C employee from Dum Dum Bapuji Colony Adarsha Buniadi Vidya Mandir, told The Hindu that the authorities did not try to explain their situation to the Supreme Court.

“The teaching and non-teaching staff have been fighting this battle together for years. But now they are driving a wedge between us. Maybe this will help the authorities break our movement,” Mr. Mondal said.

The aggrieved non-teaching staff complain that they are being treated as dispensable, despite their critical roles in school operations — from administrative duties to occasionally stepping in to teach. Most are sole breadwinners with families to support, loans to repay, and sick relatives to care for.

“I bring my 1.5-year-old son here every day. I have no choice. If I don’t earn, he won’t get his meals,” said Mala Hansda, a Group D school employee from Purulia.

“My mother is a cancer patient. I am the only earning member. All my savings went into her treatment. She will die if I lose my job,” Kokhan Fulmali, 46, said while holding back his tears.

Meanwhile, “untainted” teachers are staging a separate sit-in at the West Bengal School Service Commission office, demanding that the government publish the lists of “tainted” and “untainted” candidates. State Education Minister Bratya Basu promised on April 11 that the lists would be published by April 21.