Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu informed the state assembly today that the government would never compromise on quality and eligibility criteria in the appointment of teachers in the state. No question of relaxation in the teachers' eligibility test (TET) could arise, he stressed.
Congress MLA Ashraful Islam Sheikh raised a slew of questions regarding the number of venture schools and their provincialisation and model degree colleges during the question hour today. The MLA said, "I welcome the government for the provincialisation of some schools. However, several other venture schools have not yet been provincialised. When will the government provincialise them?"
In his reply, Dr Pegu said, "The government decided to set up a model degree college in each of the 126 Assembly constituencies in the state. We have already established 58 model degree colleges so far. The government requested proposals from the LACs that do not have model degree colleges."
Dr Pegu further said, "The school provincialisation Act was amended in 2025. After the amendment of the act, we opened a portal requesting the aspiring candidates to apply. We received 6,163 applications from LP schools, 10,101 from upper primary schools, 5,733 from high schools, 1,222 from senior secondary schools, 201 from higher secondary schools, and 1,698 from degree colleges. The applications are under scrutiny to ascertain the eligibility criteria of the applicants."
Dr Pegu said, "We have been getting quality teachers through TET since 2012. No relaxation in TET is acceptable. Any compromise in TET will lead to a compromise in the quality of teachers. The NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) has issued some guidelines for the recruitment of teachers. There can't be any compromise in the quality and eligibility of teachers."
Two other Congress MLAs-Baby Begum and Abdur Rahim Ahmed-also spoke on the issue.
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