WBTET : 160 graduates fight for every teacher post in Bengal
Dec 6, 2012
West Bengal Primary Education Board|West Bengal
KOLKATA: As many as 54.5
lakh people - more than the population of Singapore - have applied for
primary teacher posts in Bengal, exposing the desperation of the
educated in a job-starved state.
This sea of applicants is vying for 35,000 vacancies in state-aided primary schools,
which means 160 people are fighting for every post, a grim pointer to
where the state is headed to. The mind boggling number has made experts
in the Indian Statistical Institute sit up in alarm. "It clearly
indicates that there is a serious scarcity of jobs in Bengal," said ISI
teacher and economist Avirup Sarkar.
He also sees a
rising insecurity among employees in the service sector, not to speak
of industry. "This indicates that even the existing jobs are not very
secure and hence people are looking for government jobs. Such is the
situation that they are lured by the job of a primary teacher. It also
implies that people in Bengal do not want to take any risk of doing an
independent business or venturing out and also that they do not have
much option outside the state," Sarkar said.
However,
Calcutta University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das sees nothing
extraordinary in the huge number of applicants. "School-level employment
is a major catchment area for graduates seeking employment. A common
trend in Bengal is to look for a government job instead of a lucrative
job in the private sector," Das said.
As is the
trend in Bengal, even this has triggered a political blame game. The
current education functionaries of the state claim the damage was done
by the Left Front regime. "In 2010, 62 lakh people had applied for the
Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), but the figure didn't show up because
the CPM-led government didn't allow all the applicants. The previous
board screened applications and allowed only one in 15 candidates to
take the test. Going by that principle, there would have been only 4
lakh candidates this time but we did not take that route," said West
Bengal Primary Education Board chairperson Manik Bhattacharya.
In fact, he
touted it as a "big achievement of the Mamata Banerjee government". "We
distributed 54,50,000 forms for the Primary Teachers Recruitment
Examination. All applicants have already got their admit cards although
the last date for submission of forms was November 30. This is
unprecedented. We have been able to solve the anxiety of the long wait
for admit cards," Bhattacharya said.
He also said
that while the CPM-led government had charged Rs 150 for each form, the
Mamata administration asked for Rs 100. "SC and ST candidates had to pay
only Rs 25 although the rules allow us to charge Rs 50," Bhattacharyya
said, adding that everyone who scores a minimum of 60% in the December
23 test will be called for interview. In the Left regime, one in every
two persons who qualified got the interview call-up, he said.
News Source
: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-06/kolkata/35646600_1_applicants-teacher-eligibility-test-left-front-regime
/ Times of India (6.12.2012)
**************************
It is really surprising that approx 55 lakh people applied for Primary Teacher Jobs.
Craze for Government Jobs is very high due to social security and good job profile in teaching sector.
Through RTE ,
Approx. 20 lakh jobs created all over India. And due to huge
requirement, charm for B.Ed / Diploma in Teaching highly increased.