TET to be held in Dec for over 11K vacant seats

Kolkata: State Education minister Bratya Basu on Monday said the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for this year will take place in the second week of December. He also urged the protesting candidates to "keep faith in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee."

Later, the West Bengal Board of Primary Education announced that TET 2022 will take place on December 11 for more than 11,000 vacant seats. Chairman of WBBPE Gautam Pal said the notification for the examination will be given before Durga Puja, and the portal will open after Lakshmi Puja.

"We will mention a date (referring to the portal for registration). From that day, candidates will be able to register their names. Through the portal, they will be able to download admit cards as well," Pal said.

The chairman also stated that from this year TET will take place every year.

The announcement was made after a meeting of top officials on Monday. The ad-hoc committee of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education's meeting, in presence of Pal, had taken place on Friday.

However, before the tests for new primary teachers' recruitment takes place, the primary education board will ensure that the 2014 TET merit list and other details are published. Based on the 2014 TET merit list, around 59,000 candidates were recruited in two phases. Around 23 lakh aspirants applied for the positions in 2014. However, only 21 lakh candidates appeared for the examination. The first stage of recruitment was completed in 2016 while the second round took place in 2020.

Several cases were filed at Calcutta High Court in regard to the corruption behind the appointments. On Friday, the high court ordered the primary education board to publish the merit list of about 59,000 teachers by November 30.