Central Teacher Eligibility Test Decides Eligibility for Primary School & Class VI to VII Teacher

Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) in accordance with the of National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) and with certain objectives decided to conduct a test at all India level, Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) as a minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher.

These objectives include –
•    Bringing national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in selection process.
•    Inducing teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards.
•    Sending a positive signal to all stakeholders that the Government lays special emphasis on teacher quality

Ministry of HRD in view of these objectives entrusted the responsibility of conducting the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Delhi.

CBSE accordingly has been organising CTET twice a year, usually in the months of February and September since the year 2011. Each time more than lacs of candidates from all India appear this teacher certification test and those qualified apply to various schools of central as well as state government schools across the country.

However, some states also conduct a state eligibility test with the same objectives. The candidates successful in the state level test get certification which is valid to the concerned state only.

With CTET exam two different levels have been decided, one, determining eligibility for primary school teacher, i.e. for classes I to V, and second for teacher for classes VI to VIII. Accordingly, there are two papers, Paper –I and Paper-II in CTET exam respectively. Candidates who want to pursue their career in primary school teacher (i.e. for classes I to V) should attempt Paper – I, while those who want to teach in classes VI to VIII, should attempt Paper –II.

As per the official release of CBSE, in September 2014, total 206145 candidates appeared; out of those only 11.96 per cent i.e. 24629 candidates were declared successful. Similarly, 459268 candidates appeared in Paper II, out of these just 2.8 per cent, i.e. 12843 were qualified.