Giving some hope to thousands of Bachelor of Education (B.Ed)/ Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified unemployed youths, the education department of Uttarakhand has sent a proposal to the State Government to extend the waiver to B.Ed/ TET qualified candidates for becoming primary teachers.
The State Government would now request the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) to endorse the extension. The NCTE has directed the central and State Governments to ensure that they should consider only the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) and TET qualified candidates for recruitment of teachers in the primary schools.
On the plea that the State does not have enough D.El.Ed qualified candidates the Uttarakhand government took waiver to recruit the B.Ed/TET qualified youths in the primary teacher cadre of state. NCTE gave the waiver till March 31 and later extended it till September 30.
The Primary Education Director RK Kunwar told The Pioneer that the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) of Uttarakhand would start the two year D.El.Ed course this year and as first batch of D.El.Ed qualified candidates would pass out after two years the education department has proposed that the existent waiver for B.Ed candidates for primary teachers should be extended for two more years.
There are more than 25,000 B.Ed/ TET qualified unemployed youths in the state and these youths are on a path of agitation to accommodate them in the primary teacher cadre of State Government.
If the NCTE accepts the State Government plea to extend the waiver than the job avenues of these youths would be greatly enhanced as the primary teachers constitute the biggest chunk of job in teaching fraternity.