MP Teacher Recruitment System Under Debate Amid TET Controversy

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The ongoing debate over Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in Madhya Pradesh has brought focus back to how teachers were recruited and trained in the state with many educators arguing that the system never required repeated examinations after selection.

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Teacher recruitment in Madhya Pradesh was largely based on limited eligibility exams conducted in phases including major recruitments around 2005, 2008 and later years. These exams assessed basic qualifications after which selected candidates were appointed in government schools.

Following recruitment, teachers underwent structured professional training instead of facing continuous testing. A key role in this process has been played by District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), which was set up to provide pre-service and in-service training.

Teachers completed DEd or BEd courses and were further trained through DIET modules, workshops and orientation programmes.

Many teachers now argue that expecting them to clear fresh tests decades later is unrealistic. “We passed our exams once. How can someone be expected to remember what they studied in 1998?” said Anamkika Saxena, a teacher from Berasia.

Records also show that in 2019 a competency-based exam was conducted to assess teachers’ performance. And that was all. The school education department had tested 5,891 teachers who recorded less than 30% results as 1,351 failed in the first attempt.

Action was subsequently taken against 84 teachers who failed to clear the test despite multiple attempts even when allowed to refer to books.

Educationist Damodar Jain said that after 2010, eligibility-based exams were introduced and conducted for recruitment, but once teachers were appointed, no further exams were mandated.

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Jain said that the issue reflected systemic gaps rather than individual failure. “You cannot blame teachers alone. The system has its own shortcomings including delays in recruitment. ents,” he added.

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