Tamil Nadu: No posting for teachers even 8 months after clearing TET, protest held

CHENNAI: Having cleared the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) exam eight months ago, hundreds of candidates frustrated over a delay in appointment orders, staged a protest here on Friday.

The protestors speaking to DT Next said, “We are forced to stage this protest to grab the government's attention towards hundreds of candidates who have cleared the exam, but are still not given appointment orders.”

As TET was made mandatory for teachers to be appointed in government schools, several candidates attended the exam in 2012, 2013, 2017, and 2019.

After the competitive examination was held in May 2024, certificate verification was done and the exam result was published by the end of July. The list had 2,800 persons selected for the post of graduate teachers.

“We have not been given any consultation or appointment order by the School Education Department for more than 8 months. Due to this, we are forced to resort to private schools and companies for jobs and livelihood. Most of us are over 50 years old – some even widows and differently-abled. We are forced to work elsewhere, despite clearing the necessary government exams,” a protestor added.

“There are about 15,000 teacher vacancies in the education department. But, instead of appointing candidates who cleared the exam, the department is keen on filling the posts with temporary staff,” added another protestor.

Meanwhile, raising concerns regarding mismanagement by TRB, the members of the 2013 TN Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) welfare association demanded a police inquiry into illegally appointing 3,000 persons in various posts within the education department.

Citing the 2012 recruitment, the members of the association said, “Such illegal postings have happened despite conducting tests for recruiting teachers.”