CHENNAI: Many teachers who appeared for the special Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) Paper-I on Saturday said the exam was tough and most of the questions were not based on the syllabus they were teaching. The test was conducted following a Supreme Court ruling that all teachers handling classes I to VIII must pass TET, including those appointed before the Right to Education (RTE) Act came into force.
Of the 61,386 teachers who had registered for Special TET Paper-I, nearly 97% appeared for the examination held at 222 centres across the state. TET Paper-I meant for teachers handling classes I to V carries 150 marks, with five sections — Child Development and Pedagogy, Language-I, English, Mathematics and Environmental Studies — carrying 30 marks each.
Speaking to TNIE, a majority of teachers said the Special TET Paper I was tougher than the regular TET conducted in December. Many said they had expected an easier paper considering they had to balance school work with exam preparation after a gap of several years.
“Most of the questions were based on classes VI-VIII syllabus rather than classes I-V, which we have been teaching. Even the training classes conducted by SCERT were not in line with the questions asked. Many teachers with over 30 years of experience even struggled to handle the OMR sheet,” said S Amudhan, of Tamil Nadu Aaramba Palli Asiriyar Kootani, who has been serving as a government school teacher for more than 20 years.
Teachers have also urged the government to reduce the qualifying cut-off marks for TET. At present, candidates from the SC/ST categories must secure 60 marks to qualify, while those from the General, MBC and BC categories are required to score 75 marks.
“The government should consider reducing the cut-off marks to ensure that all teachers are able to qualify,” said R Doss, a member of the Tamil Nadu Elementary Teachers Organisations Joint Action Committee.
Meanwhile, 1.67 lakh candidates have registered to write Paper II, meant for teachers handling Classes VI to VIII, on Sunday at 613 centres across Tamil Nadu.
