Promise met, 7,234 TET teachers regularized

30,700 TET-passed candidates may be temporarily inducted under SSA till they acquire B.Ed/D.EL.Ed degree through distance learning, says Himanta

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, June 19: The Assam government today announced regularization of 7,234 TET teachers even as it used a computerised lottery system to post them across 10 districts.

The appointment letters for these teachers will be uploaded on the websites of Education or associated departments from where they can download the same and join their assigned schools on June 27.

The highest number of teachers - 2,619 - was posted in western Assam's Dhubri district, bordering Bangladesh. The least, 48, was in north-central Assam's Darrang district.

The number of appointments in other districts are: Barpeta 840, Bongaigaon 587, Cachar 209, Goalpara 355, Karimganj 708, Morigaon 801, gaon 875 and Tinsukia 192.

"The computer random lottery system was done at least twice for these 10 districts to offset any technical or human error. In the case of (western Assam's) Barpeta district, the lottery was done four times," Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

 "The entire process was video-recorded, and anyone who has doubts can obtain the footage through RTI," he said.

Officials said the district from where a candidate applied was taken into consideration when the computerised lottery was conducted. At least 30 percent of the appointed teachers were women, as per norms.

The selected 7,234 teachers were among 38,000 candidates who passed the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). They were selected on the basis of their marks and on whether were passing or appearing for their B.Ed/D.El.Ed exams, a must under the Right to Education Act.

The Education minister said six leading educationists - retired professors Indrakumar Bhattacharyya, Dinesh Baishya, Ramesh Pathak, Dinesh Baruah, SEBA chairman NM Hussain and teacher Kabita Bhuyan - oversaw the lottery, conducted on Saturday, as neutral observers.

Sarma said 30,000 posts of teachers are vacant in Assam, but they cannot be filled up as the State does not have enough candidates with B Ed degree or diploma. "We will take a call on the matter in the next cabinet meeting," he said.

"We can, in keeping with our pre-poll promise, appoint the remaining 30,700 TET-passed candidates temporarily working under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan... We are making arrangements so that they can acquire the B.Ed/D.El.Ed degree through distance learning," Sarma said.

The minister said the appointments were stayed by the High Court, but later allowed it with certain riders. The recruitment process had started in October, 2014.

The minister also said a review committee has been formed to the look into the issue of irregularities in posting and transfer of SSA teachers in the last two years. "If we find anomalies in the process of transfer, the teachers will have to go back to their previous place of posting," he said.

Appointment and regularisation of teachers was one of the saffron party's election promises. This was the second major step since Sarbanda Sonowal's BJP-led alliance government took charge on May 24.

Last week, the Education department made college and higher education free for students belonging to families whose combined annual income is less than Rs 1 lakh. The initiative has taken effect from the current academic session.