Bihar Mandates Competency Exam for Contractual Teachers

Bihar Education Department has made a new rule for the contractual teachers in state. Now, it is mandatory for contractual teacher in the state to clear the competency examination conducted by it. The new mandate states that they will have to clear the competency examination in maximum three attempts else they will lose their jobs.

Contractual teachers can become state government employees by filling forms for the examination between February 1-15, 2024. The admit cards will be issued on February 16. The examination will be held from February 26 to March 13, 2024.

The Computer Based Test will have 150 multiple-choice objective questions. Exam syllabus will be same as that of the Teachers’ Recruitment Exam (TRE) conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission. The pass percentage for the exam will be 40% for general category, 36.5% for backward class, 34% for backward class (annexure-1) and 32% for scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, disabled and women candidates.

A notice in this regard was issued by Education Department’s Additional Chief Secretary K.K. Pathak on February 3, 2024. To be noted that Pathak is the Chairman of the committee constituted by the department for the competency examination. Director of Primary Education, Chairman of Bihar School Examination Board and Directory of Secondary Education are the members of the committee.

Earlier on December 26, 2023, the cabinet passed a proposal to give proposal to give the status of government employees to around 3.5 lakh contractual teachers. During the cabinet meeting, it was also mentioned that the contractual teachers have clear competency examination for becoming the state government employees.