1% of state teachers passed eligibility test In Tamil-Nadu

Raising concerns about the poor calibre of teachers in taking competitive tests, less than 1% of candidates who sat for the Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test on July 12 passed. Candidates attributed the poor result to the lack of time to complete the exam.

"We were told to take extreme caution in colouring the bubbles in the OMR sheet," said Santhosh Raj, a middle school teacher. "This is the first time we are coming across this answer sheet. Just colouring our answer options took a lot of time," he said. Many said they could not find time to study with a full time job. Of the 6.67 lakh candidates, whose answer sheets were evaluated, only 2,448 passed.

It was probably for the first time in decades that school teachers in the state were sitting for a competitive test. There was stiff resistance initially, particularly from those with just a couple of years to retire and from those who had registered with employment exchanges and were waiting for a job in a government school.

While more than half of the successful candidates were women, the toppers in each category were also women. Surjit K Chaudhary, chairman of the Teachers Recruitment Board, which conducted the test, said M Priya of Udumalpet topped Paper 1 with 122 out of 150 marks, whileP Chitra of Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam topped Paper 2 with 142 of 150, topping the science with mathematics category. Arulvani of Cumbum district topped social studies with 125 of 150 marks.

The Right To Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act mandates that all teachers of Classes 1 to 8 and those aspiring to become teachers clear the test to ensure quality education for students.

The low pass percentage in the TET has forced the TRB to conduct a supplementary test on October 3, which will be declared a holiday for schools. The duration of the examination will be increased from one-and-a-half hour to three hours. The results are expected to be out before the end of October.