The federation of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)/ Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates has threatened to launch a massive agitation if the state government fails to keep its promise of getting extension from the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) for the B.Ed./ TET candidates for being eligible to be appointed in primary schools. The members of the federation are sitting on a Dharna outside the state education directorate from last six days.
The state vice President of the federation Manvir Rawat said that the relaxation provided by the NCTE to the B.Ed qualified candidates for being eligible for being appointed as teachers of the primary school ended on March 31 this year. “ The chief Minister of Uttarakhand had assured us that he would take up the issue with the NCTE and get the exemption extended till March, 2020 but nothing has happened,’’ he said. Rawat informed that the other demand of the federation is that the state government should immediately release recruitment advertisement for filling the vacant posts of primary teachers in accordance to the information provided in a RTI. Rawat said that thousands of the B.Ed./ TET qualified candidates in state are restless and can start a massive agitation soon if their justified demands are not accepted.
There are more than 25000 B.Ed. and TET qualified unemployed candidates. These candidates are the ones who are adversely affected by the NCET decision of not appointing them in the primary schools as these schools offer maximum employment opportunities to them due to their large number. The NCTE has now directed that only Diploma in elementary education (D.El.Ed.) qualified candidates would be considered for appointment in the primary schools.
It is worth mentioning here that the first batch of D.El.Ed. candidates would pass out from the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) next year and their number is only 650. The federation of B.Ed./ TET contends that since the number of D.El.Ed qualified candidates in state is very less the state government should appointment them in these schools and offer them in service training of D.El.Ed as done before.