Qualified teachers need to take another test to get job

CHANDIGARH: In a shocker to thousands of qualified, but unemployed Punjabi schoolteachers, the Punjab Government has decided to conduct qualifying test even on those aspirants, who have already passed the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which, according to the Right to Education Act, 2009, is the standard qualifying exam meant to select teachers for government schools.

Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 25

In a shocker to thousands of qualified, but unemployed Punjabi schoolteachers, the Punjab Government has decided to conduct qualifying test even on those aspirants, who have already passed the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which, according to the Right to Education Act, 2009, is the standard qualifying exam meant to select teachers for government schools.

The Punjab Government has devised this method to fill over 6,000 vacancies of schoolteacher under the Master Cadre (who will teach from Classes VI to X). Even after clearing TET, now teachers will have to clear a qualifying exam in his or her main subject. However, the government’s methodology to recruit teachers in Punjab after around two years has rattled thousands of candidates who have passed TET.

There are over 16,000 TET-passed teachers in Punjab of which only around 5,500 are on government jobs. More than half of the employed are still serving on contract basis.

The RTE Act says every TET qualified candidate is eligible to be recruited as a government schoolteacher. In light of this, TET-qualified unemployed teachers have objected to the government move, while stating that the newly introduced test will render their TET qualification useless.

“If the government has to conduct its own test, than what is the purpose of taking TET every year. A teacher who has passed TET is quite an eligible candidate to serve as government teacher. This move is nothing different from directing IAS/PCS-passed candidates to clear one more test before joining the service,” said a teacher, who has passed TET, but is unemployed.

Besides, while recruiting new teachers, the government will only consider test marks, but not the merit secured by candidate in his masters, MPhil or PhD degrees.

According to the new directions, the final merit of aspirants would be decided by aggregating their score in TET and the new test.

State Education Minister Dr Daljeet Singh Cheema could not be contacted for comment. Director General School Education (DGSE) Pardeep Aggarwal, who also heads the Directorate set up to organise teachers’ recruitments, however, said since teachers would teach a specific subject, second test is meant to ascertain their perfection in their main subject.

“We are organising subject test as teachers will teach their main subject in schools,” Aggarwal said, while confirming the decision.