Kolkata, Sep 7: The first round of the State Level Selection Test (SLST) for teacher recruitment, conducted by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC), was held smoothly on Sunday after a gap of nine years.
The exam began at noon, with question papers distributed at 11:45 a.m., and concluded at 1:30 p.m. Specially-abled candidates were given an additional 30 minutes. All candidates were allowed to leave exam centres after 2 p.m. A new safeguard introduced this year is the provision of carbon copies of OMR sheets and question papers, aimed at preventing manipulation and corruption.
A candidate told the media: “There is hope that corruption will be checked this time. But whether the entire recruitment, including interviews, will be transparent remains to be seen.”
According to WBSSC, around 3.5 lakh candidates appeared for the assistant teacher recruitment exam (Classes 9–10) across 636 centres. About 31,000 candidates came from other states, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the total. The second round, for Classes 11–12, will be held on September 14. Together, the two rounds aim to fill 35,726 teaching posts, of which 23,212 are for Classes 9–10 and 12,514 for Classes 11–12.
Education Minister Bratya Basu expressed satisfaction over the smooth conduct of the first phase and congratulated all stakeholders. He assured that the administration would ensure maximum transparency and security in the upcoming round.
The fresh exams follow the Supreme Court’s annulment of nearly 26,000 teaching and non-teaching jobs linked to the 2016 SLST scam. Several politicians, officials, and former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee were arrested for manipulating OMR sheets and selling posts. Both the Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court barred tainted candidates from reappearing, dismissing their pleas to participate.
