Telangana: Wait for DSC to get longer

The wait of teaching job aspirants in Telangana for the mega District Selection Committee (DSC) notification is likely to get longer

Hyderabad: The wait of teaching job aspirants in Telangana for the mega District Selection Committee (DSC) notification, which was part of the assurance given by the Congress, a promise that was tom-tommed exhaustively during the Assembly elections, is likely to get longer.

A mega DSC notification requires tackling knotty issues such as taking up transfers of teachers, promotions of existing teachers in government and local body schools and holding the all-important Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). It also entails the issuance of notification, conducting tests and announcing the TET results, which is expected to take at least three-four months.

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Moreover, given the ensuing SSC Public Examinations, it is highly unlikely that a TET notification will be issued anytime soon as teachers are busy preparing students for the Class X exams, apart from having to perform their examination duties.

“There are issues including transfers and promotions of teachers and conduct of TET for both existing teachers and teacher job aspirants. A mega DSC can be notified only if these issues are addressed first,” says a senior official.

The previous BRS government had permitted 6,612 teachers posts, while fresh vacancies to the tune of 4,774 have already been identified by the School Education Department. Several more are expected to be created, provided the exercise of transfers and promotions of existing teachers is undertaken by the State government.

However, such an exercise is linked to the conduct of the TET as it is mandatory for teachers to receive promotions as per norms of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The Secondary Grade Teachers (SGT) must qualify in Paper-II of the TET for promotion to the School Assistant (SA) position. Similarly, qualification in the TET Paper-II is essential for the promotion of School Assistants as Headmasters.
The Education Department in the past had taken up promotions without holding the TET. However, this was contested by some teachers in the High Court, which ruled for holding the TET for teacher promotions.

Of the total vacancies permitted by the previous BRS government, the DSC notification was issued for 5,089 vacancies, comprising 1,739 school assistants, 2,575 secondary grade teachers, 611 language pandits and 164 physical education teachers. The remaining 1,523 special education teacher posts were not notified due to technical issues. The DSC notification for 5,089 vacancies had attracted 1,77,502 applications.