CHENNAI: The Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), which conducts eligibility tests and direct recruitment for government educational institutions, is set to make its recruitment process almost entirely online, with a slew of technology-enabled reforms to streamline applications and improve administrative efficiency and transparency.
The move comes against the backdrop of delays in TRB recruitments, with results of examinations and recruitment taking anywhere from six months to over a year to be published. The examinations also draw large numbers of candidates, ranging from around 25,000 to more than one lakh. Recently, more than 2.3 lakh working teachers appeared for the Special TET.
“The idea is to make the process easier for candidates and reduce the time between issuance of notifications and publication of results,” a senior TRB official said.
The reforms, many of which are nascent and still under discussion, will draw on best practices followed by other recruitment agencies and cover the process from notification to roster preparation and certificate verification. The current practice, however, will prevail in terms of the conduct of examinations.
A key change will be the introduction of one-time registration (OTR). At present, candidates have to enter their details afresh for every notification. Under the new system, candidates can register using their mobile number and access a dashboard, with details entered during the first application automatically used for subsequent applications. OTR is already used by state and union government agencies such as the TNPSC and the UPSC.
The board will also strengthen its online application support system with real-time helpline assistance, chat support, dynamic FAQs, step-by-step digital guidance, and instructional videos to help candidates submit applications and resolve queries, according to the school education department’s policy note.
Candidates will also be able to upload certificates once, with the documents retained for up to five years. The TRB plans to introduce on-screen certificate verification, allowing digitally stored essential certificates for ease during verification. They will also be able to access their results permanently through the dashboard, compared to the present system, which utilises hyperlinks that expire after a preconfigured time.
Another reform is an online roster processing system to generate communal reservation rosters, prepare merit-cum-roster lists, and revise rosters in line with government orders. The system is expected to improve accuracy, consistency and transparency while reducing the time taken for roster preparation,.
The board will also upgrade its reference library digitally for use in question preparation and build a database of empanelled subject experts.
R Nivethitha, a private schoolteacher who frequently applies for TRB examinations, said, “There are issues such as errors in the answer key. The board should ensure that such problems are avoided so that results are not delayed.”
