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Govt to appoint 43,000 teachers

By Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 13 � As part of its efforts to induce some much-needed changes in the education sector in consonance with the Right To Education (RTE) Act, the State Government is making the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for appointment of schoolteachers.

Revealing this to the media, Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today told the media that a around 43,000 teachers would also be appointed within a year.

�A total of 31,000 teachers-25,751 fultime and 6,081 part-time � will be appointed by January next year. Another 12,000 posts of teachers are also likely to be created and filled up within the first year,� Sarma said, adding that the recruitment process would be conducted strictly under the laid down RTE mechanism.

The RTE makes it mandatory for the States to have two teachers per school within six months of the formation of the relevant rules by the State governments. �Our rules will be formed by June 30 and implementation of RTE will then get the momentum,� the minister said.

The TET for LP and ME school teachers would be held by the first week of October, where the appearing candidates must have had 60 per cent marks (45 per cent in case of SC/ST/OBC candidates) in the Higher Secondary (HS) examination.

�This is part of our drive to infuse quality in school education. Anyone interested in teaching will now have to make the preference earlier and pass the test. This norm will be applicable for private schools as well,� he said, adding that a diploma course for TET would soon be introduced in colleges and universities.

On the issue of provincialization, Sarma revealed that the State Government would bring in a legislation in July to streamline the phase-wise provincialization of venture schools with 2006 as the cut-off year for eligibility for the purpose.

�The Act is in drafting stage, and the Government will provincialize all the schools set up before 2006. Some other criteria such as having a minimum pass percentage of 30 will also be there,� Sarma said, adding that there would be no provincialization thereafter and any school set up by private parties would remain as private school.

On the higher education front, the minister said that a dozen government colleges would be set up, the locations being Sonitpur, Darrang, Bongaigaon, Morigaon, Dhubri, Karimganj, Cachar, Tinsukia, Nagaon, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong and Hailakandi. As of now there are four government colleges in the State. The colleges will be set up as a cost of Rs 8 crore each.

�The next five years will be eventful, with lots of schemes coming. Four new universities would also come up, as we want to reduce the number of colleges affiliated to per university to 50,� he said.

Under another plan, best teachers from schools with commendable performance will replace the teachers of schools with zero pass percentage. �This year 130 schools had zero pass percentage in the HSLC exam. Teachers of these schools will be replaced with the cream of teachers from other schools so that they can show good results,� Sarma said.

Delinking HS classes from colleges, Sarma said, was not a priority right now as the �Government is for strengthening the required infrastructure before effecting the change.�

Admitting that free textbooks reached schools quite late this academic session, Sarma said that for the next session books will reach schools by November 1.

Sarma also said that the State Education Authority would monitor the activities of private schools as well.

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