West Bengal teacher recruitment: SSC to revise merit list for 12,445 posts

The West Bengal Central School Service Commission (SSC) is likely to soon come out with a reworked merit list for recruitment to higher secondary teaching posts, following the state's revision of the OBC reservation formula, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The exercise covers 12,445 vacancies and follows the government's decision to bring down the OBC quota applicable to the recruitment process from 17 per cent to 7 per cent, he said.

The commission is revisiting the merit list published on January 21, which had been prepared under the reservation structure introduced by the previous TMC government.

According to commission sources, the previous panel had recommended 3,586 candidates for appointment. The revised assessment may lead to changes in the candidature and ranking of some aspirants who figured in the previous list.

Counselling to resume after fresh panel

Counselling for candidates who had already completed their interviews was suspended on August 13. The process is expected to restart once the revised merit list is released.

As part of the revision, candidates were asked last month to update their OBC sub-category information on the commission's portal.

The commission has been racing against a deadline set in connection with the recruitment process. The Supreme Court has asked it to complete the exercise by May 31, 2027, and the SSC wants to accelerate the remaining stages after the merit list is recast, the SSC official said.

Secondary teacher recruitment next

The commission is expected to undertake a similar exercise for recruitment to secondary school teaching posts, where 23,209 vacancies are available.

Candidates who cleared the selection tests held in September last year will be considered for interviews under the revised reservation structure.

An interview shortlist for the secondary-level recruitment is likely to be released by the third week of September, the official said.

OBC quota revised from 17 per cent to 7 per cent

The recruitment process was initially launched with a 17 per cent OBC reservation provision.

A notification issued by the then state government on June 10, 2025, had earmarked 10 per cent for OBC-A and 7 per cent for OBC-B, covering 140 backward classes, he said.

Applications for nearly 35,000 secondary and higher secondary teaching vacancies opened on June 16, 2025, with the 17 per cent quota forming part of the recruitment framework.

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced in May this year that the OBC reservation would be revised to a certain percentage for 66 communities. The change has prompted the commission to revisit the recruitment panels and redraw the subsequent interview and counselling schedule, the official added.