MP Government Teachers Boycott TET Forms, Threaten Statewide School Shutdown

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Government teachers across the state have vowed to boycott the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) by not filling the examination forms and have threatened a complete shutdown of schools if their demand for exemption from the mandatory test is not accepted.

As part of their protest, they will send one lakh emails every day until Sep 26 to the government and senior officials, including the school education minister, Governor, Prime Minister and President.

They warned that if their demands are not accepted, their next step will be a complete shutdown of schools, following which teachers will take to the streets.

The teachers said they were not running away from examinations but were opposing the demand to appear for TET under rules introduced after their appointments.

Division-wise sit-in planned

The teachers have announced an indefinite protest from Sep 27. They will take leave from schools to join the protest, with teachers from different divisions coming to Bhopal on different days.

They will also observe a fast on Oct 2. Teachers' Association state president Jagish Yadav said that the recruitment system in MP was different from that followed in other states and claimed that teachers had already appeared in examinations during their recruitment.

They also said they had approached the court earlier and secured relief on issues related to their service conditions. Yadav said the government was not conducting the examination purely to assess quality.

The offline exam is being conducted to make us pass it, not for quality, he said, adding that teachers would therefore not appear for it.

Over 20,000 forms filled

More than 20,000 teachers have filled TET forms so far, of whom only 5% are government teachers. The MP Board will conduct the offline TET in December.