Screening test for schoolteachers from 2012

The state government has decided to introduce an additional test for those who want teach in Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools

Applicants to teaching posts in the 17,000 state-aided Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools will have to first clear the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which has been proposed by the Union government.

Only those who score 60 per cent or above will be allowed to sit for the second and final recruitment test. The West Bengal School Service Commission will conduct both tests.

Till 2010, teachers in Madhyamik and Higher Secondary schools were recruited through a single test. The two-step process will be in place by early 2012, when teacher recruitment exams will be held next.

“The new system is aimed at improving teaching standards and making the teaching and learning process more child-centric in state-aided schools,” said school service commission chairman Chittaranjan Mondal.

Graduates will be eligible to appear in TET. From 2014, it will be compulsory for candidates to also have a BEd degree.

The screening exam will test knowledge of child development and pedagogy with special focus on child psychology between ages 11 and 14 years. It will comprise 150 one-mark questions in four sections. Thirty-mark sections each on first language, second language, and child development and pedagogy will be compulsory. Candidates will also have to answer another 60-mark section on either science and math or social sciences.

In the final selection exams, candidates will have to answer essay-type questions.

In a bid to improve teaching standards in schools and ensure a uniform teaching system across the country to comply with a provision of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act, the Centre had issued guidelines at the beginning of the year, asking state governments to introduce TET.

The Left Front government, which was in power then, had rejected the proposal and declared that it would continue with a single recruitment test for teachers.

Many veteran teachers and academicians have expressed concern about deteriorating teaching standards in state-aided schools in Bengal.

“Poor quality teaching and failure of schools to maintain a child-centric approach have been identified as causes for falling standards,” said a senior official of the school education department said.

Admission through lottery: The state government is planning to admit students to classes I to VIII through lottery. Currently, the lottery is held only to admit students to Class I. The move is likely to be implemented from the 2012-2013 session, said sources in the school education department.

The government plans to scrap the system of holding admission tests to comply with a provision of the Right to Education act.

Source - Telegraphindia