Bhubaneswar: The Board of Secondary Education (BSE), Odisha, has postponed the rescheduled Special Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET) slated to be held on August 31, citing unavoidable circumstances.
Candidates are advised to await further updates from the Board regarding the new exam date.
There was uncertainty over the exam, a state-level eligibility test for in-service teachers aspiring to teach Classes 1 to 8, as all three sets of question papers prepared by the Board were suspected to have been leaked.
The Special OTET-2025 (Paper-1 and Paper-2), initially scheduled on July 20, was postponed after images of handwritten question papers began circulating on social media the previous evening. On August 1, the board rescheduled the test to August 31. However, it later wrote to the School and Mass Education (SME) department, stating that conducting the exam by preparing and printing fresh question papers within such a short period would not be feasible, even with additional manpower.
During a press briefing on August 16, BSE president, Srikant Tarai had refrained from giving a clear answer on whether the exam would be held on August 31. “The Special OTET involves question preparation, printing, distribution to respective centres, appointment of invigilators at the centre, arrangements for candidates at the centres, etc. This process is time-consuming. A review is on to conduct the examination in a proper manner and on time. I want to tell the teachers that the examination will be conducted shortly,” he had said.