0.4% of teachers pass eligibility test

City teachers are worried about appearing for the new teachers eligibility test, conducted under the Right to Education Act, as only 0.4% of teachers across the country passed in 2012.

City teachers are worried about appearing for the new teachers eligibility test, conducted under the Right to Education Act, as only 0.4% of teachers across the country passed in 2012.

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In 2011, only 14% passed the Central Teachers Eligibility Test (CTET), considered the benchmark for recruitment of teachers. In the exam, teachers must answer 150 multiple choice questions in 90 minutes.

“Only one out of three teachers who appeared for the exam from our school last year passed it. The test is tough because the National Council for Teacher Education has said a person must score 60% or more to be considered qualified,” said Najma Kazi, principal, Anjuman-I-Islam Girls School, Byculla.

In its meeting on Saturday, Shikshan Katta, a forum of educationists, decided to raise the issue of the test’s difficulty and other problems teachers have been facing under the RTE Act before the state.

Educationists blame the poor quality of training given to school teachers for their failure to crack the test. “Many teachers do not have updated knowledge about the subject they teach. The training should refresh and update teachers’ knowledge,’’ said Basanti Roy, former secretary of the Mumbai division board.