Ludhiana: 94% candidates appear for PSTET, women take lead
In paper 1 of PSTET, a total of 3,203 candidates were women in contrast to 640 male candidates, while in paper 2, there were 6,231 female candidates against 813 males
Candidates aspiring to become government school teachers appeared for the Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test (PSTET) on Sunday at 21 centres across the district.
As many as 3,843 appeared for paper 1 out of registered 4,118 candidates, while 6,231 turned up for paper 2 out of 6,479 candidates.
An overwhelming number of candidates recorded in both papers were women. In paper 1, a total of 3,203 candidates were women in contrast to 640 male candidates, while in paper 2, there were 6,231 female candidates against 813 males.
Paper 1 took place in the morning shift between 10 am to 12.30 pm, while paper 2 was scheduled for 2 pm. Paper 1 (primary stage) is an eligibility test to teach students of classes 1 to 5 while paper two(elementary stage) is a qualifying test to become eligible to teach classes 6 to 8.
The candidates scoring over 50 per cent will qualify to apply for vacancies for teaching positions at government facilities.
Paper 1 was based on child development pedagogy, language, mathematics and environmental studies, whereas aper 2 consists questions from selected subjects, including art and craft, physical education and languages were introduced this time along with social science, math, science, and child development pedagogy.
One woman candidate Harwinder Kaur, a resident of Jagraon, sharing her experience said it is her fifth attempt. “I am currently working as a teacher at a private school, as I have consistently prepared I am confident that I will qualify the test,” she added.
Appearing for paper 2, Arshdeep Singh said the government has announced to recruit around 2,000 physical education teachers and he is hoping to secure a spot. He added that after qualifying the test he will be eligible to appear in the exam for master cadre.
Candidates with bachelors in education were eligible for exam, Arshdeep Singh went on to add.
Giving details, an education department official said as many as 350 invigilators have been deployed at the centres, including RS Model School, Arya Senior Secondary School, Government Model School, Model Town, GMSSC, Cemetery road, Government School, Jawahar Nagar, BCM Arya School Shastri Nagar, Jain Girls Senior Secondary School and G N Khalsa School.
The question papers at different examination centres, including Government School Punjab Agricultural University and GSSS Jawahar Nagar boys had several pages blank which sent the candidates into a tizzy. While in paper 2, the social studies section of the question paper had most of the answers in bold.
Deputy district education officer, Ashish Kumar said the exam was conducted by the Guru Nanak Dev University and the invigilators were from the education department.
“I am not authorised to comment on discrepancies in the question paper”, he added
