Aspiring teachers in Punjab need to learn their lessons. A whooping 95 per cent of them have flunked the State teacher’s eligibility test (TET) this year. Out of the total 2,23,778 candidates in the State-level teachers’ entrance examination on June 9, only 9,392 candidates have managed to crack it.
While the Paper I — for those who who intended to be a teacher for classes I to V — was cleared by seven per cent candidates, the Paper II — for those who intended to be a teacher for classes VI to VIII — was passed by mere 3.5 per cent of the candidates appeared for the test. The result, declared on Wednesday, was indicative of the level of teachers available for the state education department in Punjab. Notably, the TET was not only taken by the aspirant teachers, but also by those who are already working as teachers.
The TET was introduced by the Central Government to improve the standards in teaching across the country, with both the central and the state governments conducting the test to achieve Right to Education (RTE) goals. The test, held for the first time in 2011, is aimed at recruiting quality teachers possessing essential aptitude and ability to meet the challenges of teaching at the primary and upper primary levels. Conversely, considering the results of the TET this year, the RTE’s goals of having quality teachers seems to be a distant dream.
Instead, the state education department was expecting to have better result this year owing to increase in time limit for the exam by the National Council of Teachers’ Education (NCTE) from 1:30 hours to 2:30 hours. Other than that, the candidates also got additional time for preparation after the TET was deferred from scheduled date of May 26 to June 9 owing to clash of IAS Preliminary Examinations.
In the test, conducted by the Punjab State Council Educational Research and Training (SCERT), a total of 60,382 students appeared for Paper I, including 16,731 male candidates, and 43,651 females. And only, 4251 students managed to pass the paper. Similarly, 1,63,396 students appeared for Paper II, including 29,926 males and 1,38,470 females. Out of the total, only 5,141 students have passed this paper, comprising 3406 candidates from the general section. In fact, during previous TET, out of 2.65 lakh candidates appearing for the test, only 1.24 per cent candidates could pass the Paper I, and meager five per cent cleared the Paper II.
Both the paper carries 150 marks, comprising of multiple-choice questions, with no negative marking. For candidates of general category, passing percentage is 60, while it is as 55 per cent for the candidates belonging to SC, ST, or other reserved categories owing to five per cent concession.
In Paper I, subjects like child development and pedagogy, mathematics, environmental studies and two languages. For Paper II, the subjects are other than child development and pedagogy and the two languages, Mathematics and Science are compulsory for teachers of these subjects, for Social Studies or Social Science teacher, Social Science is the subject, and for any other teacher, it could be mathematics, science, or social science.