Kolkata: The Bengal government has published a draft amendment to the West Bengal Primary School Teachers’ Recruitment Rules, 2016, seeking to increase the weightage of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) while reducing marks for other academic and professional components.
The notification issued by the School Education department on November 3 invites objections and suggestions within 15 days of its publication in the Official Gazette, after which the proposal will be taken up for final consideration.
Under the proposed amendment, the TET weightage has been raised from 5 to 25 marks, while the weightage for the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) qualification has been reduced from 15 to 5 marks. The weightage for the Madhyamik examination remains unchanged at 5 marks, while that for the Higher Secondary examination has been lowered from 10 to 5 marks.
The existing provision of 5 marks for extracurricular activities—covering sports, NCC, arts, literature, drama and music—for non-earmarked vacancies, and 5 marks for teaching experience in earmarked vacancies, has been removed. With these revisions, the total marks for academic and professional qualifications will stand at 40, based on which the merit list will be prepared after physical verification and validation of candidates’ data.
Shortlisted candidates will then be called for interview and classroom demonstration, carrying 5 marks each, taking the overall assessment to 50 marks. For para-teachers, the classroom demonstration will be replaced by evaluation of teaching experience, with up to 5 marks awarded for more than ten years of service. The draft also seeks to increase the minimum age for applicants from 18 years to 21 years.
West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) president Goutam Pal clarified that the proposal would not affect the ongoing recruitment drive for 13,421 vacancies. “This is a draft issued to seek feedback. The current recruitment will continue under the existing rules,” he said.