Future tense for 60,000 teacher aspirants in Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu government cannot not do much about extending it as any decision to extend rests with the Centre. According to the rules laid by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the TET certificate is valid for only seven years.

In addition, TET is a mandatory requirement to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in Classes 1 to 8.

As per the act, secondary grade teachers, who teach Classes 1 to 5, would have to pass TET paper-I. Likewise, graduate teachers, who handle Classes 5 to 8, would have to complete TET paper-II.

In Tamil Nadu, 60,000 teaching aspirants have completed TET in the 2013 batch and of the total, more than 20,000 candidates are in waitlist to get appoint order to work in government schools.

A senior official from the Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TTRB) told DT Next that little over 61,000, who cleared TET in 2013, have to once again appear for the upcoming TET and clear it. “Otherwise, they would not get an appointment even in private schools”, he added.

As per the guidelines by NCTE, candidates must renew their TET certificate every seven years, in order to keep themselves updated and fit for the teaching profession.

“I completed TET in 2013 July and got an appointment in a private school. I am also waiting to get a teaching job in a government school and for which I will be getting an appointment order anytime. However, my TET certificate will be expiring this December and I do not know how to proceed from here”, S Saravanan, a teacher in a private school in the city said. Stating that he should get appointment order from the government before December to get a job in State-run school, he said “by seeing COVID-19 pandemic situation, it is unlikely to get it”.

K Padmini, a TET qualified teacher in another private school at Pammal, said that once again appearing for TET would be very difficult since the new syllabus have been included. “With already engaged in online classes, preparing for TET is not possible”.

Expressing concern over TET issue, Tamil Nadu Teachers Association President P K Ilamaran said that the State government should take immediate steps to prevail upon the Centre for making TET certificate valid for a lifetime so that livelihood of thousands of teachers will be restored. “The State could also pass a resolution and submit it to Centre in this regard”, he added.