CHENNAI: After a gap of three years, around seven lakh teacher aspirants in the State will write the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) on April 29 and 30. More than 2 lakh candidates will appear for paper 1 exam on Saturday and five lakh candidates will appear for paper 2 on Sunday. The board has set up around 600 exam centres for paper 1 and 1,200 centres for paper 2.
“The candidates will be allowed only after the frisking to the examination halls. Collectors are monitoring the exam related works with revenue and education department officials. We are ready with all pre-examination preparations,” said T. Udhayachandaran, secretary, department of school education. Over 30,000 teachers and officials will be involved in exam related works. The department also set up the flying squads to prevent the malpractices during the examination. As per the Right to Education Act, the Teacher Eligibility Test should be conducted at least once a year. The exam consists of two papers - paper 1 for secondary grade teachers and paper 2 for graduate teachers. Those who qualify in the exam can alone teach classes 1 to 8.
The candidates have to secure a minimum of 60% marks (90 marks out of 150) to clear the TET exam. But the state government had relaxed 5% of marks in the qualifying marks for the candidates from socially disadvantaged sections. The test was delayed by the court cases filed by the candidates opposing the relaxation of marks and awarding the weightage mark for recruitment. After the Supreme Court's verdict favouring the state government's five percent relaxation in qualifying marks and weightage mark system, the board has issued notification for the TET exam during the first week of March.
