Assam Education Minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya on Tuesday announced that the validity of Teachers' Eligibity Test (TET) certificates will be extended.
A controversy began after the education minister in a recent radio interview had said that teachers will also have to renew their license time-to-time to keep the validity going, just like drivers. But the Minister said on Tuesday that TET qualified teachers need not reappear in TET examinations and said that a process has been initiated to extend the validity of their certificates.
It may be mentioned that teachers across the state of Assam who has been appointed through Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualification have staged protests in the state and put forth demands like the permanency of their posts and regularization of salary.
The teachers across the state in areas such as Tinsukia, Dima Hasao, Kamrup (M) and other districts, staged protests against the Minister.
They chanted slogans like “We are teachers and not drivers”, “Thank you, Siddhartha Bhattacharya, for comparing us with drivers”, and so on.
They also threatened to intensify their protest if the government fails to fulfill the demands they have made.
The protesting teachers submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts.
The teachers of the state have also used the social media platforms to protest against the statement by writing “Driver” in front of their names in their Facebook accounts.
Many have also posted photographs posing as drivers.
The Teacher Eligibility Test, known as TET, is the minimum qualification in India for a person to be eligible for entrance examination for teachers.
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