Conduct TET afresh: SC asks state

Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Bengal government to conduct Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) afresh. The apex court has reiterated that fresh TET examination should be conducted for the benefit of those students who had passed Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) but could not appear for the 2017 TET examination.

The division bench of Supreme Court has also set a time limit of March 31, 2022 within which the state government will have to complete the TET examination. As per notification of 2017, more than 2.5 lakh candidates who had applied during that time appeared for the TET examination that was held on January 31 this year.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announced that the results of the TET examination will be published before the Durga Puja this year. Several candidates had moved the apex court challenging the 2017 notification. They informed the court that the form fill up for the TET examination ended soon after the release of notification but the examination was held only on January 31 this year. They argued that as per NCTE rule, TET examination should be conducted at least once every year, so in this 4 year gap, all those students who had completed D.El.Ed should be given the opportunity to appear for the TET examination. No examination was held between the period 2017-2020. Hearing this argument the Supreme Court immediately ordered for holding the examination afresh.

The verdict of the apex court means that another 50,000 to 60,000 candidates who had completed D.El.Ed during this period will get the opportunity to appear for the TET examination.