The 2014 Teacher's Eligibility Test (TET) qualified candidates marked their 116th day of the sit-in protest while the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) conducted fresh TET exams after five years on Sunday, December 11. "New exams will only make things more complex. They should have cleared the outstanding recruitments first. We still have 3,929 vacancies owed to us, the TET 2014 candidates," says Achinta Samanta, one of the leaders of the protesting candidates. TET is supposed to be held annually under the National Council for Teacher Education's (NCTE) requirements. West Bengal, meanwhile, has only held TET three times in the last ten years.
Last month the West Bengal Board of Primary Education published the TET 2014 list, which the candidates claimed was full of discrepancies. The list included names of political leaders like the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and more. The board has maintained that the similarity in names was co-incidental; nevertheless, other discrepancies like missing names and change of category remain unanswered. "The list was a farcical handmade list to cover up their extensive corruption," says Arnab Ghosh, another protesting candidate. He further adds, "The court had ordered the board to conduct the exam by December 31, so it is no surprise that they finally made arrangements for it. But this is just an eyewash as the previous processes are not complete." Previously, Arnab called anomalies on the published list an "intentional attempt to stall the recruitment process."
The qualified candidates from the 2014 TET exam still await the recruitment that was promised to them by the Chief Minister. Furthermore, the new TET exam adds to their anguish as a new set of people will end up getting qualified without any constructive difference. Arnab remarks, "It has been more than a month since the court verdict came in to absorb us in the remaining 3,929 vacancies, but nothing has been done yet. The new examination will add a fresh set of candidates and a fresh set of victims of corruption."
"While the exam has 5 marks allocated to it, the interview awards 10 marks. This leaves so much opportunity for corruption. Unless this is changed, you can't expect the process to be fair," concludes an exasperated Achinta Samanta.
As per the report submitted to the Special (CBI-I) Court by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) last month, the previous president of WBBPE, Manik Bhattacharya, had illegally aided more than 300 candidates to qualify for TET 2014.
