School students join West Bengal teachers' protests
Students of protesting teachers on Saturday (May 17, 2025) came out in support of their aggrieved teachers after they faced the police baton. The young minds participated in the sit-in outside Bikash Bhawan as their teachers conducted open air classes for them.
The students joined their teachers around 4.30 p.m. Many teachers got emotional seeing their students hitting the streets. The students sat with placards as the teachers conducted 'Udayan Pathshala'. They taught moral stories to the 30 to 40 students studying in Classes 4 to 9 who were present on the site. One of the student placards read, 'Students call upon you, may our sirs and madams get justice.'
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress Mayor Firhad Hakim criticised the teacher's movement and said the people who want to show face on television are the only ones sitting on the roads and protesting. 'The verdict of Supreme Court can only be changed at Supreme Court; you cannot change it by protesting in front of Bikash Bhawan. Blocking the roads and not allowing people inside offices to go home is harassment. This is drama, not protest,' Mr. Hakim said.
On the other hand, BJP leader Dilip Ghosh criticised the government for using police force on the teachers. 'Why are deserving teachers being kicked and hit? People should touch the feet of teachers and show respect, but they are being beaten up,' Mr. Ghosh said.
In a related development, job seekers of the 2022 West Bengal TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) also staged a protest in College Street in Kolkata. They called it the 'Chief Minister inspired jobless fair.'
The teachers have been protesting outside Bikash Bhawan, the State Education Department headquarters since May 7 and came under the police baton on May 15. This happened after the protesting teachers refused to let the employees of Bikash Bhawan leave the premises till their demands were heard.
The use of force by the police left at least 30 teachers injured. This brought severe criticism from the Opposition parties. The West Bengal Police justified their use of force as 'minimal and restrained'.
The teachers have been protesting for over a month as a response to the Supreme Court ruling on April 3 which upheld the cancellation of approximately 26,000 appointments made during the 2016 recruitment process conducted by the WBSSC, citing irregularities.
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