Education Minister Ishwar Dass Dhiman said that State Government was committed to protect the interests of all categories in the Education department. He said that the plea of the State Government to exempt JBT trained candidates from appearing in Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) had been rejected by the Central Government therefore the decision to hold TET for JBT teachers was taken by the Government under compulsion. He said that the TET would be held by the H.P. School Education Board, Dharamshala for JBT candidates and 1313 JBT teachers would be appointed soon.
Education Minister said that the decision to appoint 1313 JBT candidates batch wise was taken in August, 2011, however, it could not be implemented due to the decision of Hon’ble High Court to fill up the backlog of ex-servicemen and added that in compliance to the Court decision the backlog was filled up in JBT category by giving appointment to ex-servicemen. He said that meanwhile due to another writ petition filed by some candidates of 2008-10 batches, another decision came up from the Hon’ble High Court according to which the candidates of DIET and private educational institutions were brought at par and directions were issued to make appointments according to R&P Rules.
Education Minister said that after the implementation of Right to Education Act, 2009, the appointment of teachers would be made on the merit under TET the State Government took up the matter with NCTE for providing relaxation to 2008-10 batch which was rejected. He said that the State Government had also taken up the matter with the Ministry of Human Resources Development which was also rejected.
He said that 5 percent exemption in the Minimum Qualifying Marks in TET for the posts of TGTs, C&V teachers and JBTs candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe/OBC and Handicapped categories in Education Department had been provided by the State Government.
Dhiman said that TET had already been held for Shastri, Language Teachers, TGTs (Arts, Medical and Non Medical) and the results were awaited. He said that appointment of 470 Shastri, 500 Language Teachers, 780 TGTs (Arts), 324 TGTs (Medical) and 876 TGTs (Non Medical) would be made immediately according to the merit of TET soon.
