Aspirants want Teacher Eligibility Test to be held annually

While the Central government conducts TET twice a year, Tamil Nadu has not conducted it for several years, despite the RTE Act making it mandatory to be conducted at least once a year

December 03, 2020 01:10 pm | Updated 01:10 pm IST - CHENNAI

Teacher-aspirants want the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to be held annually as has been mandated under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

The RTE Act states that the exam should be conducted by the State government and the Central government at least once a year. The test is offered as two papers: Qualifying in Paper 1 makes the candidate eligible for teacher postings in the primary section (classes 1-5) and clearing Paper 2 makes them eligible for middle school postings (classes 6-8).

While the Central government conducts TET twice a year the State has not conducted TET for several years.

G. Anto Ignatius, secretary of the Catholic Minority Welfare Society who appealed to the Madras High Court to order the State government to conduct TET, said till date, the Teachers Recruitment Board had conducted TET only five times – in July 2012; Oct 2012; Aug 2013; April 2017 and June 2019.

“The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has made it mandatory to conduct TET at least once a year,” he pointed out.

An aspirant who is waiting for a posting since 2013 said the TET held in 2017 was mired in controversy due to complaints of malpractice following which 200 candidates were declared to have indulged in malpractice and disqualified. According to him as many as 80,000 qualified candidates had not received their postings yet. He claimed that at least 12 candidates had died waiting for job postings.

Mr. Anto pointed out that not conducting the TET was against the Constitution, RTE Act and NCTE guidelines.

“There are thousands of candidates who finish their B.Ed every year and more who complete their diploma in teachers’ education,” he said adding that States such as Kerala and Uttar Pradesh conducted the test regularly. This enabled candidates to get jobs in government and private schools as well, he added.

He suggested that the State follow the Kerala model, which conducts the test in November and announces the results in December. This allows candidates who qualify B.Ed to complete the TET and be eligible for appointment at the beginning of the next academic year.

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