Around 6 lakh candidates wrote the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) on Sunday for appointment of teachers at government-aided primary schools amid minor glitches.
Many were apprehensive about the evaluation system, considering that the recruitments by the primary education board based on previous exams are mired in allegations of irregularities.
Partha Karmakar, deputy secretary (academic) of the ad hoc committee that is running the board, said close to 6.15 lakh candidates wrote the test at 1,460 centres across the state.
CCTV cameras were installed at the entry to the examination centres and the candidates faced biometric and facial recognition scanning.
Long queues were formed at the centres since 9am. The exam started at noon and the board had announced that the candidates would be allowed to enter the venues from 9.30am. No candidate would be let in after 11am, the board had announced.
“The board will notify later the date of the publication of the results. The examination has been held without any disruption,” said Karmakar.
The Telegraph visited several examination centres in the city to get a sense of the apprehensions of the examinees and take stock of the glitches.
Apprehensions
Several candidates said that apart from conducting the exam in a fair way, the board must ensure a fair evaluation as well so that there is no recurrence of the fiasco that is associated with the previous TET examinations.
“We want the assessment to be held in a fair way. What happened in TET 2015 and TET 2021 must not happen this time. Our efforts should not go to waste,” said Shreya Hait, who wrote the test at Tirthapati Institution in south Kolkata.
“West Bengal does not have too many jobs. A teaching job is something we look forward to. We want the recruitment to be carried out in a transparent way,” said Rohit Das, who wrote the test at the same school.
Mary Anthony, who wrote the test at Hindu School in north Kolkata, said: “Many of the candidates who wrote previous TETs are protesting on the streets because the board appointed undeserving candidates. I don’t know what will happen this time. Still, I am writing the test because we want jobs.”
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court had on Tuesday said he would, “if necessary”, cancel the entire panel of candidates who had cracked TET (primary) 2015 if they were found to be recruited illegally.
If the judge passes such an order, the appointment of 42,000-odd teachers in government-aided primary schools would stand cancelled.
“The court will cancel the... panel of primary TET if the court feels it necessary,” Justice Gangopadhyay had said while hearing a petition that raised questions about the process through which these teachers were appointed.
Karmakar, deputy secretary (academic) of the primary education board, said after Sunday’s examination that the board was “committed to carrying out the assessment in a fair way”.
Glitches
One of the glitches was reported from Tirthapati Institution, on Rashbehari Avenue in south Kolkata, where many candidates refused to leave the venue after the completion of the two-and-ahalf-hour-long examination because their biometric scanning was not conducted.
Many candidates thought that since the board guideline mandated biometric scanning, their papers might be cancelled if the procedure was not completed.
An official of the board said they conducted the biometric scanning in the evening, after which all candidates left the venue.
Candidates were not allowed to enter with any watch, camera, wallet, goggles, handbags, gold ornaments, electronic pen/scanner, cardboard, water bottle and bag.
At two centres in central Kolkata, bags were stacked up on the footpath just outside the campuses as the authorities did not make any arrangements to keep the bags in their possession.
The candidates expressed resentment over this.
A senior officer of Kolkata police said that in some centres, the candidates who turned up after 11am held protests seeking entry.
Senior officers spoke to board officials seeking to know whether candidates who came late could be let in.
The board allowed entry of all those who came just before the start of the examination, officials said.
