Teachers without TET unlikely to get salary till July, many search for new jobs

In addition, most of the affected young teachers, who did not perform well in the TET, have started looking for other jobs as the government is reportedly firm on its decision to dismiss them if they don’t clear the exam as per the law. Even Madras High Court had recently recommended the dismissal of the teachers, who have not passed TET even after giving eight years’ time.

A senior official from Directorate of School Education toldDT Next that salaries of these teachers were withheld from April. “Strict orders were given that the salary should be withheld till July. Now, it depends on the TET results as they were given one last grace period,” he said.

According to him, the teachers, who do not clear TET this time, will surely face the consequences as per the law. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) made TET a mandatory requisite to be eligible for appointment as a teacher for Classes 1 to 8.

Tamil Nadu Teacher’s Recruitment Board (TNTRB), the nodal agency for appointing teachers in the State, has conducted TET paper one and two on June 8 and 9 respectively. About six lakh candidates, including 1,500 affected teachers, appeared for the exams.

Most of the affected teachers claim that both papers were tough, especially the Maths questions. They also said that the TET coaching provided by the government was not enough and therefore, many of them fear that they would flunk and would lose their jobs.

“I am not sure whether I could clear TET. There is no point in waiting anymore as my family had suffered a lot in the past couple of months without my salary. I have started looking for another job,” K Murugesh, a teacher in Adyar government-aided school said. Stating that he had pledged some jewels to manage expenses, Murugesh said, “I have decided to get into any job to meet the immediate requirements.”

Similarly, K Ramesh Kumar, another teacher hailing from Pallavaram, has availed long leave to search for another job. “I will be taking up a part-time job in a company at Guindy,” he added.

However, of the 1,500 teachers, more than about 60 per cent are aged above 40 and are worried that their age will be a hurdle in finding alternate jobs in private organisations.