Teachers point out errors in eligibility test

The recently conducted Maharashtra Teacher Eligibility Test (MAHA-TET) is facing severe criticism after teachers said that the question papers had several errors.

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The exam, which teachers need to clear before they can be appointed in primary state schools, was conducted at various centres across the state on Sunday. Several teachers who took the exam said that the question papers had several grammatical and sentence errors. Images of the papers with errors were widely circulated on social media.

For instance, in the paper on child psychology in Marathi, there were nearly 40 spelling mistakes on one page. Many questions had broken sentences, while in the others, there were grammar errors. For instance, ‘thikan’ (place) was written as ‘dhikan’ and so on. Many teachers also said that there were no answer options to some questions. “It is an irony that an exam which qualifies a person to become a teacher is itself marred by so many errors. This seems to be a result of carelessness on part of the authorities as these errors can be easily spotted,” said a teacher who took the test.

Tukaram Supe, commissioner, Maharashtra State Council of Examination, Pune said that a committee has been formed to look into the issue. “We have appointed subject experts who will cross-check these papers and point out if there were errors and, if so, of what nature. If they confirm those mistakes, we will then consider whether compensatory marks need to be given in any case,” he added. This year, a total of 3.43 lakh aspirants appeared for the exam in the state.