LUCKNOW: In order to bring about transparency in appointments and to give a boost to the teaching quality, the UP government is set to bring about a change in the appointment process of Madrassa teachers by introducing the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) for those seeking appointment as teachers in institutions imparting Islamic education in the state.
Under the proposal, those seeking to teach in state madrassas will have to pass Madrassa Teachers Eligibility Test (MTET). The proposal aims at improving the teaching standard of the madrassas, especially, the non-Islamic subjects like Mathematics, Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. “This will also bring about transparency in the appointment of teachers,” said a senior official of the UP Madrassa Board.
So far, the Madrassa management authorities appoint the aspirants with a graduation degree coupled with B.Ed. As per the new proposal, the education department would organise MTET which would be different from the TET organised by the Basic Education Board of UP.
Notably, during its first tenure, the Yogi government had tried to bring many changes in Madrassa education system by introducing NCERT syllabus in 2018 so that the Madrassa students can be well versed with all the contemporary subjects along with the Deeni Talim (Islamic education).
According to an official of the UP Madrassa Board, while the authority to appoint teachers in Madrassas rests with Madrassa Management Committees, if the appointments would not be up to the mark and the appointed teachers would not be able to pass MTET, the aid provided to such Madrassas would be discontinued.
At present, UP has 560 government-aided Madrassas in which around 8400 teachers are appointed.
State Minister for Minority Welfare, Danish Azad Ansari said: “We are in the process of bringing in new system of appointment of Madrassa teachers through MTET. The proposal is already under consideration. The appointments through TET would be centralised and more transparent. We want to reassure that this system will not meddle with the Islamic Education being provided in Madrassas right now.”