No TET: Education secretary gets HC contempt notice

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday issued contempt notice to Punjab, secretary education, Krishan Kumar, and director, public instructions (secondary education), Paramjit Singh, for not conducting Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET-2017).

The bench of justice Daya Chaudhary issued notices for December 15 on the petition of Anju Rani and others, who had contended in their petition that as per guidelines issued by National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE), it is necessary for the state government to conduct the test at least once in a year, as it is a pre-condition that a person can be appointed as a teacher in government schools only if he has passed the examination, apart from possessing other requisite qualifications. The court was further told that in 2014, the government had given an undertaking in court that in future it would conduct the test once a year.

The court was told that that government got the 2016 PSTET examination on September 25. Hence, the government was under obligation to conduct the exam for 2017 by September 25. The respondents have advertised around 3,600 posts of masters cadre of various subjects, like Punjabi, Hindi, English, Social Sciences Teachers, Science, and Mathematics, for which last date for submission of application was October 7. But due to failure to conduct PSTET, the petitioners could not acquire the qualification of PSTET, the court was told, adding that they have been rendered ineligible. Hence, contempt proceedings be initiated, the court was told.