The federation of Bachelor of Education (B Ed)/ Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified unemployed youths has demanded that the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE) should extend the reprieve given to Uttarakhand so that B Ed qualified candidates are eligible to be appointed as primary teachers even after March 31, 2016.
The President of the federation Manvir Rawat told The Pioneer that the unemployed youths are planning to meet the governor of Uttarakhand, Dr K K Paul on the issue. He said that the Uttarakhand has more than 30000 B.Ed./ TET qualified candidates and after March 31 they would be rendered not eligible to be appointed in the Primary schools of the state. Rawat said that the state government should request the NCTE to extend the relaxation granted to the state at least for one more year. He said that the state has very less number of Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) qualified candidates so NCTE could provide the necessary reprieve for the unemployed youths of state.
It is worth mentioning here that the NCTE had given a two year relaxation to the state in the 2013 to appoint B.Ed. and level I qualified candidates of TET in the primary schools of the state. The apex body of teacher education had granted this relaxation on the plea of state government that it does not have necessary number of D.El.Ed qualified candidates. The NCTE granted this reprieve on the condition that the state government would give a special six months training to such candidates (special D.El.Ed) before appointing them as primary teachers. This two year relaxation ended in March last year. Interestingly on the request of the state government the NCTE extended the relaxation by one year, the term of which is ending on March 31 this year.
Meanwhile the state education department has initiated the process of appointment in 1162 posts of Primary teachers. The department has released the merit lists of the selected candidates and plans to hand over appointment letters to the selected candidates before March 31. However the federation of B.Ed./ TET candidates has alleged that the list has 562 such candidates who are already serving as primary teachers in government schools.