STET merit list row: Candidates protest for second consecutive day

Hundreds of Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Eligibility Test (STET) 2019 qualified candidates who have been put in “qualified but not in merit list” continued their protest on the second consecutive day on Thursday

Hundreds of Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Eligibility Test (STET) 2019 qualified candidates who have been put in “qualified but not in merit list” continued their protest on the second consecutive day on Thursday.

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Gaurav Dipanker, state president of B.Ed. Qualified Candidates Struggle Committee, said, “We have geared up to start a legal procedure for seeking justice. More than 150 petitioners will file writ soon if the state government failed to sort out the matter on their level.”

Guddu Kumar, a candidate, said, “I don’t want assurance, I want a job. We have been struggling for three years for getting a job. The state education department is doing injustice with us by excluding us from the merit list.”

Yuva Halla Bol (YBH), a nationwide youth movement against unemployment, also questioned the state government over transparency in the merit list.

YBH’s president Anupam raised seven questions, including why the state government has not released subject-wise merit list and cut off marks, who are the new candidates included in the merit list and on what basis and how the candidates with higher score have been excluded while candidates with low score have been included in the merit list.

All India Students Federation (AISF), Bihar, also came in support of teacher aspirants.

Meanwhile, state education minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary clarified that all candidates who have qualified STET 2019 are eligible for the 7th phase of teachers’ recruitment irrespective of their name included or excluded in the merit list.

Talking about confusion in the merit list, he said, “The changes in the list have been made following the National Council for Teacher Education’s recent decision of extending the validity of TET for the lifetime. Thus, candidates who qualified STET 2011 have also become eligible for the recruitment process in the current phase. The department is working to sort out all confusions. All STET 2019 qualified candidates are eligible for recruitment in the current phase and coming phases of recruitment.”

According to the state education department, altogether 30,676 candidates qualified STET 2019 exam in all 15 subjects, results of which were declared on March 12 and June 21.