New Delhi: The Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Thursday announced that the government has decided to extend the validity period of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) qualifying certificate from seven years to lifetime with retrospective effect from 2011, said an official statement. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in its 50th meeting of the general body had approved this extension last year.
The respective state governments/UTs will take necessary action to revalidate/issue fresh TET certificates to those candidates whose period of seven years has already elapsed, he added. The guidelines dated February 11, 2011, of the NCTE, laid down that TET would be conducted by the state governments and the validity of the TET certificate was seven years from the date of passing TET.
Pokhriyal said this will be a positive step in increasing the employment opportunities for candidates aspiring to make a career in the teaching field.
For a career in the elementary teaching profession in India, passing a relevant TET is mandatory. The national-level Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) is conducted by the CBSE. The CTET certificate is accepted when applying for a teaching post in elementary schools. The TET exams are also conducted at the state level by most states.
At the state level, while some states have already conducted the exam, others like UP and Rajasthan are basing their decision on pandemic behaviour for conducting the exams.
