Not wired to education : Fiasco of a TET
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: September 19 2011 -

Miffed candidates gather in front of the BSEM office to lodge their complaints on September 16 2011

Delhi seems to have forgotten that there is a State called Manipur or else it should have exempted it while making it mandatory for all aspiring school teachers to clear the Teachers' Eligibility Test.

How did Delhi come to the grand idea that Manipur will be able to conduct a test that will certify those eligible to become school teachers, whether in the private institutions or in Government schools ?

If Delhi wanted to satiate its sadistic trait in watching the State Government fumble in even conducting a test as basic as TET, then it must be relaxing like the Cat which just had its cream and milk ! TET primarily does not have much to do with testing the knowledge of the wanna be teachers but is more about testing the orientation of the aspiring teachers.

In short it is more about testing the ability of the aspiring teachers in transferring their knowledge to the young minds. The degrees, such as the Bachelor and Master degrees and the BEd degrees should be more than enough to testify the knowledge bank of the candidates and the need to ascertain how effectively a teacher can transmit his or her knowledge has long been felt.

Once inside the classroom, it is not so much the degree nor the title such as Dr that precedes a teacher's name that matters but how effectively he or she can hold the attention of the students. This has to do with the ability to transfer his or her knowledge to the students.

No wonder then that papers on Child Development and Child Pedagogy feature in the examination for primary teachers (Class i to V) and upper primary teachers (Class VI to VIII) while in the optionals are Maths, Science and Social Science and language papers.

This is but just a brief of the mode of examination but this should be more than enough to explain where the stress has been made.

The grand idea of TET blends well the passage of the Right to Education Bill and foresees the mass recruitment of teachers in the coming years. However judging by the fiasco that was witnessed on the day of the first ever TET held in Manipur, on September 16, it is more than enough indication that this is just too tall a task to be handled by the Government machinery.

In line with the instructions from the Centre, the Board of Secondary Education, Manipur was entrusted with the task of conducting the TET and the syllabus was supposedly prepared by the SCERT. Came the day and the joke started unfolding with all its accompanying ugly manifestations, the details of which have been spelt out on the September 17 issue of The Sangai Express.

The fiasco ranged from candidates not finding a place to sit in the centre allotted to them, being bundled off to another centre just to find themselves having to sit on the veranda for the examination, candidates being given the morning papers in the afternoon session, etc. That some candidates walked in with the question papers, while others were waiting to be allotted their seats, was the icing on the cake.

A damning testimony that nothing was prepared for the conduct of the examination with some officials having the gall to maintain that everything is going on smoothly, only to retract it sheepishly later.

What is happening ? The process of selecting the candidates who can make it as teachers for the young students is not a joke, but here the State Government seems determined to reduce this to a joke, albeit without any sense of humour. Responsibilities ought to be fixed. This is no way in which test to pick out who can be teachers should be conducted.

On the other hand, the farce of the day would not have come as a surprise to many, who have become used to the signature style functioning of this Government. As we have said, Delhi should be blamed for having so much trust in this Government which goes by the name of the Secular Progressive Front.

How can a Government, which only believes that merit lies in cosying up to the power centres in Delhi be expected to do something as routine as conducting a test to pick candidates most suited for the job of teachers.

How can a Government which is so wired to contract works and its fringe benefits be expected to invest time and energy in conducting a test which will only pick candidates who can be recruited as teachers in schools ?

This devil may care attitude towards the conduct of TET is another way of defining the Government's attitude towards education and developing human resources.