Eighty-six per cent of country’s future teachers are not eligible to teach as only 97,919 out of the 7.1 lakh candidates passed the first-ever Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) which was held last month. The test, which will from now on be a qualifying, benchmark for new teacher appointments for CBSE schools will be conducted annually as per the directives of the HRDMinistry. The CTET certificate is now mandatory for any new appointments to CBSE-affiliated schools, especially government ones.

This dismal show in the first-ever test has however left the board officials perturbed over the quality of educators. “Implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 requires the recruitment of teachers across the country in a time-bound manner.

Despite the huge demand, the act stresses that quality will not be compromised at any cost. The test is a way to ensure that persons recruited as teachers possess the essential aptitude and ability to meet the challenges of teaching at the primary and upper primary level. Poor results has brought not just the candidate’s capabilities but even the standard of BEd education is under the scanner,” said a senior official from the CBSE.

On their part, the candidates have blamed the lengthy question paper and a high qualifying percentage as the key reasons for their failure in the exam. There were two papers in the eligibility test, each consisting of 150 multiple choice questions. Paper I is for those who want to teach from Class I to V and paper-II is for those candidates who wish to teach from Class VI to VIII.

Source: The Tribune