The state primary education board has published an information booklet containing details of the syllabus for the December 11 Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) and the nature of questions the examinees have to answer.
The candidates who will crack the exam will be shortlisted for interview, the last hurdle before being recruited as teacher in government-aided primary schools (classes I to V).
The booklet, uploaded on the board’s website, also contains model answers for multiple-choice questions.
The questions in the TET will be from a range of subjects, including English, child development and pedagogy and environmental science. The questions on child development and pedagogy will focus on educational psychology of teaching and learning relevant to the age group of 6 to 11 years.
The questions will focus on understanding the characteristics and needs of diverse learners, interactions with learners and the attributes and qualities of a good facilitator of learning, said an official of the board.
“The questions on language-I will focus on proficiencies related to the medium of instruction. There is a list of prescribed language options in the application forms,” he said.
The “structure and content of syllabus” says child development will include concepts and principles of development, growth and maturation, the difference between growth and development, and the relationship of development with learning, apart from a host of other topics that have been detailed on the website.
Goutam Paul, president of the ad hoc committee constituted to run the board, said the information booklet would help candidates prepare for the exams.
“We want to help the candidates in as many ways as possible,” Paul said. An official of the board said the booklet was intended to give the examinees a broad idea about the test. Lakhs of candidates are expected to write the test.
“We don’t want any candidate to allege that they have been tested on questions not covered by the syllabus and then move court, disrupting the recruitment process. The board intends to carry out a transparent recruitment process, leading to faster appointments,” the official said.
The TET for primary schools was last held on January 31 last year. As the recruitment has come to a stop following allegations of irregularities in appointments made so far, the 9,600-odd candidates who had cracked the test have not yet been appointed.
The booklet says the entire test on December 11 will be based on MCQs (each carrying 1 mark). The exam will have five parts — A (child development and pedagogy), B (language-I), C (language-II), D (math) and E (environmental studies).
Each part will have 30 questions. The questions will be in Bengali and English, and each paper will be of two hours and 30 minutes’ duration.
