West Bengal SSC to change rules to make teachers' recruitment transparent

KOLKATA: The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) has begun preparations for fresh recruitment of teachers after Supreme Court annulled the earlier batch of recruitment. Under the new process, candidates are likely to receive copies of OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) answer sheets, with SSC maintaining the records for future reference. SC asked the SSC to advertise for the exam by May 31, 2025, and complete recruitment by Dec 31, 2025.

Sources said this time round, candidates may receive copies of answer sheets or OMR sheets after the exam. Provisional answer keys and final answer keys would be published, so that candidates can check them before the results are announced, maintaining transparency in the examination process.

Learning from the current recruitment-related issues, SSC is trying to make the fresh recruitment procedure smooth to prevent complications. Sources confirmed that after the apex court order, SSC officials began reviewing draft rules to make minor modifications.

"All major revisions were made in the draft copy that the SSC created in 2022, where minor modifications may be made as required," an official of the school education department said.

Taking lessons from the previous examination, SSC is now prioritising the development of a more transparent and secure system for evaluating and preserving the answer sheets. During evaluation, SSC will release provisional and final answer keys before declaring the final result, allowing candidates to cross-check with their OMR sheets. Through this procedure, SSC can avoid court cases in the future.

SSC has already begun to upgrade internal systems, like enhancing infrastructure and raising internal storage. SSC has also submitted a list of "tainted" and "other candidates" to the department. After the SC order, the department will issue an order soon to segregate them, based on the list to disburse salaries.

Sources said before the next session, these matters will be cleared so that eligible candidates, who were given relief to attend schools, could receive their salaries too.