Tanker crew paid only fifth of global basic

Tanker crew paid only fifth of global basic
Ram Sundaram 25 July 2018 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/tanker-crew-paid-only-f...

Chennai: Along the lines of Andhra Pradesh, lakhs of government schoolteacher aspirants from Tamil Nadu will now have to take a competitive test, besides clearing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).

The state government issued an order on July 20 stating that the Teachers’ Recruitment Board (TRB) will conduct these tests.

In 2011, the state school education department – based on Right to Education Act, 2009, and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) guidelines – made TET mandatory for all teacher aspirants across Tamil Nadu. TRB was entrusted with the task of conducting the test.

Soon, the state government came out with an order stating that recruitment of graduate and secondary grade teachers (handling middle, high and higher secondary classes) in government schools would be based on candidates’ TET scores and their performance in Class XII. While the former was given 60% weightage, the latter was given 40% weightage.

This was opposed by the teacher unions. They claimed that the board exam evaluation has been lenient of late and it was unfair to compare the performance of those who cleared Class XII 15-20 years ago, when scoring 80% or above was a huge task.

Also, many candidates started taking up TET repeatedly to increase their chances of getting a teaching job in government schools. This frequent updation in data complicated the recruitment drive.

To eliminate these shortcomings, a board comprising senior education department officials, in their meeting on June 4, recommended abolition of weightage method as it was not followed by any other state in the country.

Instead, the board suggested that TET may be considered as a qualifying examination for all teacher aspirants and those willing to join government schools should clear a separate competitive exam.

The government has accepted it and has issued necessary orders.

Commenting on this, educationist Prince Gajendra Babu said TET, containing 150 questions from respective subjects, doesn’t test candidates’ teaching ability and aptitude or attitude, it checks only the memory skills.

“Though doing away with weightage is a welcome move, the government should consider the seniority (after clearing TET) and award weightage to work experience while preparing the merit list for recruitment,” he said.