The Bengal government on Friday finalized its decision to conduct the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for appointing teachers for state-funded primary schools amid ongoing controversy over alleged illegal appointments and alleged irregularities in the recruitment process.

 

The West Bengal Board of Primary Education announced is likely to hold the TET primary by December, board officials said.

 

The board has been accused of giving appointments to undeserving candidates and depriving jobs to genuine aspirants based on TET held in 2014 and 2016.

 

An ad-hoc committee of the board held an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss holding fresh TET. Goutam Paul, the board president announced the decision to conduct the test after the meeting. He, however, said that the exact date of the exam will be announced after discussion with the state school education department.

 

“We are planning to hold the TET within December. The dates for conducting the test has not yet been finalized. The dates will be finalized after discussion with the state school education department,” Paul said after the meeting.

The board has asked the district primary councils to send the list of centers for holding the test.

 

The board had conducted TET for recruiting primary school teachers in January 2021 for the last time.

Nearly 9600 candidates had cleared the test, but the board was unable to start the process of recruitment of teachers following the controversy over alleged irregularities in recruitments. The controversy had led to the removal of the board president, Manik Bhattacharya from the post on the basis of an order of Calcutta High Court.

 

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court in June had asked the CBI to file an FIR  and start an investigation into the alleged illegal appointments of primary teachers by the board, based on the TET held in 2014.

 

The court had asked 269 teachers who were appointed illegally not to attend school and to return the salary they had drawn.

 

The board this week has also recommended the names of 185 candidates who had appeared in the 2016 TET for appointment in compliance with a directive of Judtice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

 

The court, however,  has not objected to the holding of fresh TET, according to a source in the board.

 

The ad-hoc committee was set up in August to ensure that new appointments of the board are held in a fair way, the source said.