Exposing West Bengal’s Corruption Crisis – Teacher Recruitment Scam | SSC Scam

By Harshita Rathore

West Bengal has grappled with a deep-rooted corruption crisis for decades—today, at the heart of it lies the School Service Commission (SSC) teachers’ recruitment scam, which has shattered the hopes of thousands of deserving candidates. In this investigative video, we uncover how teaching jobs were allegedly sold for lakhs of rupees, replacing merit with money in one of the state’s most crucial sectors — education.

More than 2.3 million (23 lakh) candidates appeared for the state-level selection test in 2016, and the scam was exposed in 2022. Since then, thousands of teachers have been protesting in the state against a Calcutta High Court verdict that cancelled their appointments. The verdict was later challenged in the Supreme Court.

Mehebub Mondal, 35, one of the leaders of the protest, had always dreamed of becoming a teacher. He never considered any other profession. Now, thousands of teaching jobs — including his — are at stake. These teachers are protesting to distinguish themselves from those tainted individuals who paid bribes to secure appointments.

In a verdict on April 3, 2025, the Supreme Court annulled 25,752 appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff except Soma Das’s appointment who is a cancer patient. The number of vacant posts was 24,640, but 25,753 appointment letters were issued. The Court stated that the entire selection process was “vitiated by manipulation and fraud,” and its credibility and legitimacy had been “denuded.”

From the arrests of top officials and political aides to stashed cash running into crores, the scandal has exposed the systemic rot in recruitment processes overseen by the #ssc.

But the SSC recruitment scam is only the tip of the iceberg in West Bengal’s long and troubling history of corruption. Over the past decade, the state has witnessed a series of high-profile scams that have shaken public trust and revealed how deeply rooted the corruption is—stretching across sectors and affecting the lives of everyday citizens.

From the infamous Saradha Chit Fund scam, which duped lakhs of small investors and exposed a massive nexus between financial fraudsters and political power, to the #narada sting operation, where top political figures were caught on camera allegedly accepting bribes — the pattern is undeniable.

The Ration Scam further revealed how essential food grains meant for the poor were siphoned off, while the Cut Money scam showed how people were forced to pay bribes to access benefits they were legally entitled to under government schemes.

Then came the Rose Valley scam, estimated at over 170 billion (17,000 crore) rupees, echoing the magnitude of the #saradha collapse and raising further questions about regulatory failures and political complicity. More recently, allegations of irregularities in the RG Kar Medical College’s recruitment and operations have once again brought the spotlight back on corruption in public institutions — this time, in the healthcare sector.

Together, these scams paint a grim picture of a state struggling under the weight of institutionalised corruption — where power, privilege and profit often overshadow justice, transparency and accountability.

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