Nagaland: Teachers appointed under SSA during 2011, 2013 didn’t write TET, says report

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Feb. 22(EMN): The government of Nagaland conducted Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) twice on December 14, 2013 and July 9, 2013 but didn’t conduct any such exam for teachers who were appointed under SSA during the Year 2011 and 2013 in contravention of the MHRD notifications, according to the Public Accounts Committee (2020-21) report which was presented at the recently concluded Assembly session.

Examination of records of the Mission Director, SSA, also revealed that out of 16,551 teachers in Government Primary and Middle Schools in the state, only 5,861 teachers were trained and 10,690 were yet to be trained.

According to the Public Accounts Committee (2020-21) report, an effort was made by SCERT to impart training to untrained teachers through Open and Distance Leaning mode in collaboration with the National institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), in addition to training of teachers within the state at district institutions of education and training, which is responsible for imparting induction training for newly recruited teachers as well as untrained teachers.

The duration of the training was for two years commencing from 2014, and training of 1900 untrained teachers under NIOS was approved by GoI, for which INR 1.14 crore was released on March 9, 2014 to SCERT for the purpose, the report stated.

However, it was observed that out of 1900 untrained teachers targeted to be trained, only 1,575 teachers got enrolled for training in the first year, of which only 1,323 teachers got enrolled for the second and final year of training.

The reasons for drop in the enrolment for the second year was neither on record nor was stated, and information on how many teachers completed the training was not made available, the report added.

It stated that the prospect of imparting distance learning to the remaining untrained teachers through NIOS in the subsequent years was also lost as the state government cancelled the MoU with NIOS.

In an audit query, the department was asked as to why no TET was conducted for teachers appointed under SSA during 2011 and 2013 and also about efforts being made by the department to provide trainings to the untrained teachers. The department in a written reply stated that for training of untrained teachers, the SCERT now conducts TET exams once or twice in a year depending on the capacity.

The department also stated that the GoI has issued a directive that all untrained teacher are to complete their professional course by March 31, 2019. The department is not appointing any applicant as teachers for those who don’t have professional training, it stated.

During the oral evidence, the department stated that out of 10,792 primary teachers in the government sectors, 953 are yet to be trained or undergoing training in various institutes. Out of 4,629 graduate teachers, about 1,607 are still untrained. Many teachers are not qualified for the training as they do not fulfil the minimum percentage in their graduation to undergo such training, it stated.

However, the committee in its recommendation stated that SCERT is not consistent in conducting TET, which is in contravention of the MHRD notification. The committee recommended the department to furnish a report on whether TET will be conducted in the near future. It also recommended the department to make sincere efforts to impart training to all untrained teachers expeditiously and to check on the qualifications of the teachers before employment.

The committee further advice the department to give due importance to this issue as the untrained teachers will have an adverse impact on the quality of education in the state. Action taken on the matter should be furnished within two months from the date of presentation of this report to the house, it stated.