The West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) on Monday published a revised preliminary list of candidates shortlisted for interviews for assistant teacher posts in classes IX and X, factoring in the BJP government’s reduced 7% OBC reservation.
The Suvendu Adhikari government’s May 18 notification cut the OBC quota in jobs and admissions from the 17% followed by the previous Trinamool Congress government to 7%.
The SSC’s October 12 notice said the revised list had been drawn up in accordance with revised vacancies notified by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the May 18 notification.
It replaces the preliminary interview list published on December 12, 2025, which factored in 17% OBC reservation — 10% for OBC-A and 7% for OBC-B.
The commission has asked candidates to check its website for the interview schedule.
An SSC official said a fresh empanelment list would be drawn up after the interviews, with candidates selected through counselling.
The revision has created uncertainty among candidates who re-entered the selection process to retain their jobs, several aspirants said.
Rakesh Alam, one of the candidates, said the revised list could exclude many who figured in the earlier one.
“The revised merit list is based on 7% OBC reservation, while the one that was prepared in December followed 17% reservation pursued by the previous government. So many from the earlier list are unlikely to make it to the new list,” said Alam, who teaches at a government-aided school in South Dinajpur.
He said the recruitment process had begun in late May 2025, when the Trinamool Congress was in power.
“If the recruitment rules are changed midway through the recruitment process, this is bound to invite legal challenges. This government knows it well. Still, they are enforcing the rules midway, which will only disrupt the recruitment process,” he said.
As many as 23,514 posts are vacant at the secondary level in government-aided schools.
Alam is among the 15,403 “untainted” but terminated candidates whom the Supreme Court allowed to participate in the fresh selection process to retain their jobs.
The court terminated 17,209 teachers’ appointments in April 2025 over a “vitiated” SSC recruitment process conducted in 2016.
The Supreme Court has extended the deadline for completing the fresh recruitment process to May 31, 2027, following a request from the state, Alam said.
“The Supreme Court had initially set two deadlines — December 31, 2025, and August 31, 2026 — before extending the final deadline to May 31, 2027, at the state’s request. However, with the OBC reservation rules changing, I doubt whether the recruitment process can be completed within the latest deadline,” he said.