Assam: Central Teacher Eligibility Test aspirants fear dearth of seats

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Those keen on appearing in the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) exams are expressing dismay at the move to scrap two exam centres, with many fearing they may be deprived of the opportunity to become a teacher.

The Assam government's education department had earlier decided against holding the state Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for two years and announced that those qualifying in the Central TET, organized by CBSE, will be considered on a par with TET-qualified ones. This has resulted in teacher aspirants opting for the CTET exam.

The application process for the next CTET has already started on Friday and will continue until November 23, 2023. The next CTET examination is scheduled to be held on January 21, 2024.

However, the number of exam centres in Assam has been reduced to 3, and there is apprehension among the aspirants that they may be deprived of the chance to appear for the CTET qualifying exam.

Earlier, CTET was conducted in five centres: Guwahati, Jorhat, Tezpur, Dibrugarh, and Silchar. But this time the centres of Jorhat and Tezpur have been scrapped, bringing the total number of centres to three. Now, CTET will be held at the centres of Guwahati, Dibrugarh, and Silchar only.

It is necessary to mention here that, during the last CTET, the centres of Jorhat and Tezpur had 4099 and 1129 candidates, respectively, appearing in the examination. An equivalent number of candidates, if not more, may be planning to appear from these centres, and they would have to move to the other centres at Guwahati and Dibrugarh. Many fear they will not get accommodation in these centres.

CTET is held two times a year. The last exam was conducted in August 2023.

A TET aspirant told The Sentinel, "The number of seats in CTET is already less in Assam. With the move to reduce the number of centres, many candidates may not get the opportunity to participate in the test. As the state government announced that TET will not be held for another two years, many candidates are keen to appear in CTET, but it seems their desire will not be fulfilled."

Although Assam has the highest number of CTET centres, as compared to other NE states that have only one centre each, the number is very low when compared to the rest of India. To put it into perspective, states like Bihar and UP have 16 and 29 centres, respectively. Even Delhi has five CTET centres, and Haryana has six.

Around 49,000 candidates appeared in a TET held earlier in the state. If a similar number were to appear in CTET, there would be a problem accommodating them in only three centres. Hence, there is concern expressed by teacher aspirants in the state.

It should be mentioned that CTET will be conducted in twenty languages in 135 cities all over the country. The detailed information bulletin containing details of the examination, syllabus, languages, eligibility criteria, examination fee, examination cities, and important dates is soon expected to be available on the official CTET website, https://ctet.nic.in, and aspiring candidates have been requested to download the information bulletin from the above-mentioned website only and read it carefully before applying. The aspiring candidates have been asked to apply online only through the official website.

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