TET or the Teacher Eligibility Test is an Indian examination conducted across the country for selecting capable teachers. With the scores of TET, candidates can be inducted into the educational system as teachers.
TET is conducted at both the national level and state level. While the National Level TET (CTET) allows teachers to be recruited anywhere in India, the State Level TET scores are restricted to the schools of the particular state.
The Maharashtra TET is conducted by Maharashtra State Council of Examination. According to a recent notification released by Maharashtra State Council of Examination, it will be bringing about some changes in the pattern of Maharashtra TET examination.
Candidates who are willing to appear or are interested in the exam must make a note of the changes.
The Teacher Eligibility Test comprises of two papers – Paper I and Paper II. Paper I is designed for candidates who are willing to teach lower primary classes, that is, from classes I-V.
Paper II is conducted for candidates who are willing to teach at the upper primary level, that is, class VI-VIII.
According to the change introduced in Maharashtra TET exam pattern, teachers for standards I-VIII will now have to appear for and pass in both Paper I and Paper II.
Further, teachers have been allowed to appear for degree-specific specializations only. In the old system, it was not compulsory for teachers teaching classes I-VIII to appear for Paper I.
The last Teacher Eligibility Test was conducted in July 2018. After that no test was conducted. In 2019, the Maharashtra State Council of Examination has received the approval to conduct the examination in the month of October.
According to Swapnil Kapadnis, the educational Secretary of the state education department stated that the change was introduced to clear out a long-standing confusion among the teachers with regard to the examination pattern and the criteria.
The exam council had prompted the state education department of Maharashtra, on October 3rd 2019, to clear out this confusion by clearly stating the guidelines for conducting the examination.
Thus, as per the change, if a teacher is only teaching classes one to five, they will have to appear for Paper I only, while teachers who are only teaching classes six to eight shall have to appear only for Paper-II.
However, there are a number of teachers who are willing to teach standards one to eight. Such teachers have to appear for both Papers I and II.
According to officials, the council will need at least three months of preparation for conducting TET. The date for the examination is yet to be announced.