Decision on conducting TN TET likely to be in two weeks

More than six lakh teaching aspirants in the State were disappointed as TET could not be conducted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. 

In accordance with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had made TET a mandatory requirement to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in Classes 1 to 8. 

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. 

Accordingly, Tamil Nadu Teacher’s Recruitment Board, (TNTRB), the nodal agency for appointing teachers in the State, would conduct TET every year in the month of June. 

"A decision would be taken in one or two weeks whether to conduct TET or not", a senior official from the School Education Department said. 

Stating that the authorities were also consulting the health experts on conducting TET, he said "according to the directions of the experts a notification would be issued in this regard". 

Pointing out that the last time the TET was conducted in June 2019, the official "since in 2020, the TET could not be conducted more than ten lakh teaching aspirants were expected to apply if exam could be conducted this year". 

"In case there was a possibility of conducting TET this year, notification would be issued three months before the exams so that teaching aspirants have enough time to apply for it", he said. 

He said paper one TET, with total marks of 150, would have Child Development Pedagogy, Language, Mathematics, and Environmental Studies. Similarly, paper two (150 marks), will have Child Development Pedagogy, Language, English. After that, candidates could choose either Mathematics and Science or only Social Science. 

The official said from 2011-12 to 2019-2020, TNTRB has recruited 46,116 candidates for various teaching posts including teachers in government schools. "In 2019-2020 alone as many as 3,048 staff were appointed by the government through TNTRB", he added.