Govt’s denial of 10% quota irks para teachers

SNS, Kolkata, | 22 June, 2015:  The state government's decision not to provide 10 per cent reservation for para teachers in the primary teacher eligibility test has irked para teachers, who feel it would be difficult for them to get jobs if seats are not reserved for them.

The primary TET examination will be held on 30 August this year and online registration for TET examinees has already started. Candidates have to go to www.wbresults.nic.in to get the details.

Around 22 lakh candidates have applied for the primary TET examination. The decision not to allow them a quota has created a stir amongst para teachers who feel that they should not have to compete directly with the general candidates to get a job in state run schools.

According to government statistics, there were 31,000 para teachers and 12,000 contractual teachers in the state. The para teachers have sent a memorandum to the state education minister, Partha Chatterjee requesting him to keep 10 per cent reservation for them. They had earlier sent a letter to the chairman of West Bengal primary education board, Manick Bhattacharya, requesting 10 per cent reservation for para teachers in the selection of primary teachers.

A para teacher said that they usually work like a full time teacher, but they don't get any benefit.Till now their salary has not been increased and they did not get any extra benefit from the state government. Significantly many para teachers have cracked the State Eligibility Test (SET) but they continue to be paid a very low salary.