Candidates who cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) exam in 2013 in Tamil Nadu, but could not secure permanent positions in government schools of Tamil Nadu, staged a protest in front of the office of Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Minister for School Education on Sunday, October 29. They demanded a meeting with the minister.
Around 200 protesters were present at the site. According to a report by The New Indian Express, the candidates could not secure a permanent position because of TET weightage criteria that considered their Class XII, undergraduate (UG) and Bachelor of Education (BEd) marks apart from taking their TET qualifying marks into account.
Vadivel Sundar, State President of the 2013 TET Exam Passed Persons Welfare Association, said, "The weightage system was an unscientific system which was later discontinued by the state, but we are affected as it was present during our time. The GO (Government Order) issued by the AIADMK government asked us to retake the exam when we raised the issue. MK Stalin, who was the opposition leader back then, supported us and extended solidarity to our grievance saying the re-exam was unnecessary as we had already cleared TET."
He added that during the last assembly election, the DMK government said it would do away with the AIADMK's re-exam notice and ensure government postings for the 2013 batch. However, it has been three years but no steps have been taken to resolve the issue, Vadivel said.
Around 10,000 teachers were affected in the 2013 TET cleared batch, the president informed. The candidates left the protest site after communication was received from the school education department that a meeting would be arranged in Chennai on Tuesday, October 31, with Poyyamozhi and other relevant officials, as per The New Indian Express.
