TET put off

Yet another blow has hit hard on lakhs of teacher aspirants as the State government deferred the holding of Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) which is scheduled to be held on September 1. Nearly 4.5 lakh aspirants have applied for the TET in the hope of appearing for DSC, which is originally slated to be held in October this year. But, the DSC notification itself was not released, apparently due to the continuous agitations in Seemandhra region. Now, with the deferment of TET, the whole process of recruiting more than 20,000 teachers has come to a grinding halt, pouring cold water on the aspirations of over 6.5 lakh unemployed youth.

The officials of TET committee did not give any specific date when exactly the test would be held. Sources said that they don’t like to open up a Pandora box since any decision at this juncture would add to more confusion. “We will take a fresh view only after the dust settles (peaceful atmosphere in Seemandhra region). Neither the TET nor DSC is possible now” a senior official of School Education made it clear.

Vani Mohan, Commissioner of School Education has recently sought ground reports from the DEOs of 13 districts. According to sources, the DEOs informed her of the volatile situation and expressed fears that if the test is held, it may have to be cancelled as the aspirants, teachers and other staff have been on the strike. Moreover, there is every possibility of the test centres being attacked by the agitators, DEOs learnt to have cautioned. After going through the reports and assessing the situation, government has decided to postpone the test.

“Teacher recruitment process cannot be done overnight. It takes nearly six to eight months time if everything is done on a faster note. Now everything is to be seen from the prism of bifurcation. If the state is divided, the whole process would be stopped. Even if status quo continues, problems relating to zonal system may crop up. So, some clarity is needed from the political leadership” an official clarified. As things stand today, there are more than 2.5 lakh candidates who have already passed TET in the last two years. They have been waiting for the DSC notification to appear for the exam. They are now in total dark since many of them fear that their advancing age may prove to be a stumbling block if the process is delayed further. TET is mandatory for teacher posts according to the rules framed by MHRD. 20 percent of TET score is added to the marks of DSC exam while making final merit lists.