COIMBATORE: Teacher aspirants appearing for Teacher Recruitment Board (TRB) examination for the post of lecturers in government polytechnic colleges, alleged that they have been allocated examination centres far away from their native districts.
The exam is scheduled from October 28 to 31. One of the aspirants, PM Ponnusamy of Erode, said, "I have been allotted a centre in Tiruchy. Many aspirants from Coimbatore and Tiruppur have been allotted centres in Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, and Virudhunagar, etc. It is difficult for aspirants to travel and write the examination."
He added that the TRB permitted women aspirants to write examinations in their native districts. A candidate, K Prabhakar (name changed) in Coimbatore, told The New Indian Express, "I get a salary of Rs 12,000 in a private polytechnic college. If I go to Kanniyakumari district to write the examination, I should spend at least one-third of my salary on expenses including travel, hotel for staying and food. A lot of aspirants are struggling financially and how can we spend a huge amount on writing the examination?"
A candidate in Coimbatore, seeking anonymity, said, "The TRB allocated examination centres far away because of the polytechnic lecturers' scam in 2017, in which many candidates were involved in malpractices. The TRB said they would notify that centre name list three days ahead of the examination, however, they have notified only the district name to the candidates."
He suggested that TRB could deploy staff from native districts to other districts for the examination duty to avoid malpractice. When contacted, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi said that he will look into the issue. Repeated attempts to reach TRB officials went in vain.