Job future tense for 450 TET candidates

KOLKATA/BIRBHUM: Twenty-five primary teachers — terminated weeks after they joined duty with proper appointment letters — called on Birbhum District Primary School Council (DPSC) chairman Naz Parvin on Friday, asking him why they lost their jobs.
All these candidates had passed two levels of scrutiny — interview and counselling — after qualifying the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) before they were handed over the appointment letters.
“It is written in the council letter sent via courier that my appointment was under para-teacher category. It has been cancelled because I didn’t submit any document in this regard. What surprised me is that I never mentioned anywhere I am a para- teacher,” said Md Saddam Ali of Nalhati who joined Gopalpur Primary School.
Birbhum is not the only case in point. As many as 200 candidates suffered a similar plight at Barasat Gandhi School during counselling. They were placed under the para-teacher category when they had applied as general candidates.
According to board sources, there are apparently 400-450 such cases across the state, prompting the school department to ask for reports from the DPSCs on this ground.
But how could the recruitment officials overlook the mismatch during interview and counselling? “Interviews were held for 60 candidates on a day. Some candidates were asked to submit their testimonials during counselling when required. Some errors came to notice during counselling as well. It was clarified school authorities will check the testimonials before the candidate joins duty,” a DPSC official said. But for these unfortunate few, the board couldn’t detect the mismatch despite three levels of scrutiny.