TNTET : Petition seeks relaxation for SC/STs in TET minimum marks
A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court Bench here seeking relaxation, for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates, in the minimum mark of 60 per cent fixed by Teachers Recruitment Board for clearing the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
R. Anusuya (23) of Tirunelveli, a Dalit candidate, who had scored only 76 marks as against the minimum required marks of 90 out of 150, had filed the petition. She claimed that failure to provide relaxation was against the Constitutional safeguards provided for the SCs and STs.
When the case came up for hearing before Justice V. Ramasubramanian on Thursday, he ordered notice of motion (notice issued before admitting a case) to the School Education Department as well as Teachers Recruitment Board returnable by four weeks.
Earlier, petitioner’s counsel G. Thalaimutharasu contended that TET was made mandatory for all those who want to serve as teachers on the basis of recommendations made by National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) after the enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009.
The instructions issued by the NCTE categorically state that though a candidate must secure a minimum of 60 per cent to be eligible to clear TET, the State Governments might consider providing concessions to candidates belonging to SC, ST, Other Backward Classes and the physically challenged.
In accordance with the instructions, relaxation of five per cent of marks was provided for SC/ST candidates in Assam, 10 per cent in Odisha, 20 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and five per cent in Delhi. Such relaxations were provided even for the NET and SLET examinations conducted for college lecturers.
Though Tamil Nadu was one of the most progressive States that had always been in the forefront in terms of ensuring social equality, it was surprising that it had failed to provide relaxation of marks in TET for people belonging to socially backward communities, he added.
The counsel also claimed that there were several mistakes in the question paper prepared for the TET conducted on October 14. He said that a key (list of answers) downloaded by his client from the Internet did not contain any answer for at least two of the 150 questions.
News Source : http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/petition-seeks-relaxation-for-scsts-in-tet-minimum-marks/article4227991.ece
