No ‘exemption’ for teachers with 4 years’ experience
Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 6
A three-year window to clear the teacher eligibility test (TET) to schoolteachers with four years’ experience sparked off a number of protests last month from candidates who had qualified the test but failed to cut ice with the Haryana Government.
Now, the government may just have to re-think about the exemption with the Centre categorically stating that there is no such provision to permit clearing of the eligibility test once a teacher has been appointed.
Sources in the school education section of the Human Resource Development Ministry said that in response to a query on the exemption to teachers with experience, the section, in its reply sent to the government on June 1, has categorically stated that there is absolutely no scope for relaxation.
The state government, in a letter written to the Centre in May, had sought to know if teachers holding an experience certificate could be allowed a relaxation to clear the test after their selection by the Haryana Teachers’ Selection Board.
Sources in the ministry said that just like the provisions of the National Eligibility Test, conducting a teacher eligibility test by states would be essential without there being any exceptions. Only teachers who cleared the test would be eligible for selection in government schools.
Unlike the rest of the country, Haryana is perhaps the only state to have “fiddled” with the test by announcing an exemption to teachers with four years’ experience. The “disputed” clause states that in case of direct recruitment, the teachers working in privately managed, government-aided, recognised and government schools, are exempted to acquire qualifications of passing the HTET if they have worked for a minimum period of four years on the date of enforcement of these rules.
Stating that this is a one-time measure and sets a deadline of April 1, 2015, to qualify HTET, the clause states that “otherwise their appointment shall stand terminated automatically without giving any further notice.”
However, this came under fire from the Haryana Patra Adhyapak Sangh which, during its protests through May, alleged that in doing so, the government is providing “backdoor entry” to the 10,000-odd guest teachers working in government schools.
The president of the women’s wing of the sangh, Archana Suhasini, said the provision of allowing a teacher to first secure an appointment and then clear the test smacked of the government’s intention to “accommodate” the guest teachers whether or not they are capable.
She said 7,00,000 candidates had cleared the eligibility test and some of them had done so repeatedly while some guest teachers had not been able to clear the test despite repeated attempts. How could the government think that guest teachers or those from other schools and states, holding a four-year experience certificate, get precedence over us?”
It remains to be seen what stace the government takes on the issue.