As many as 103 BEs and BTechs were among the 1194 successful candidates who cleared the Teacher’s Eligibility Test (TET) in Tripura last month in which candidates without DElEd and BEd degree were allowed to appear, according to reports.
Altogether, 1.15 lakh candidates had appeared in the test out of 1.34 lakh applicants.
Interestingly, as many as 39 engineering and technical degree holders cleared (TET-1) for recruitment to primary section (Class I-V) and 64 cleared TET-II for secondary level teaching (Class VI-VIII), including an engineering graduate from IIT Kanpur, at a fixed remuneration of Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per month at least for five years as per existing norms of Tripura government.
After regularisation, a primary teacher will be paid around Rs 30,000 and a secondary teacher will get Rs 42,000, respectively.
“The compensation is minimal for an engineering graduate from the IITs, but the selection allows age relaxation up to 45 years for the candidates in general category and 50 years for reserved categories to attempt for higher positions in the state administration,” said the father of a technical graduate who was selected as a primary teacher.
Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath said Tripura government allowed one time academic relaxation after the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development gave the nod following the direction of Supreme Court to fill up the minimum requirement of teachers before March this year.
As per the Right to Education Act, no teacher could be appointed without BEd and DElEd but the state “doesn’t have such qualified candidates”.
“As a result, ministry has given one time relaxation for appointment of teachers at different levels who have excellent academic record and proficiency in language, science, mathematics, history and culture of India. But they have to acquire the professional degree within a stipulated period after joining the service, otherwise, their service will be discontinued,” Nath said.
“We are happy to get engineering and technical graduates in the list of future teachers, besides other meritorious candidates of the state. Our government has targeted to ensure strongest base of education at primary and secondary level like Finland and US and once the base is strong, higher education will automatically be the best, something our predecessor the left front government could not realise in 25 years and broke the basic pillars of the development,” Nath observed.
