Page 20 - EW September 2022

Education News

This imbroglio provides a per- in Maharashtra who wrote
fect example of how government TET, only 1,679 passed. In
intervention, i.e, “backdoor partial TET 2020, of the 3.43 lakh
nationalisation” of private schools who wrote the exam a mere
under s.12 (1) (c) has resulted in con- 16,705 passed.
tinuous litigation and waste of time nsurprisingly, with the
for private school managements. Umad scramble for gov-
Autar Nehru (Delhi) ernment school employ-
ment, the education sector
MAHARASHTRA has become the happy hunt-
Suffer little children ing ground of corrupt of-
ficials, agents and coaching
school professionals. More-
ight months after large-scale Abdul Sattar (left) with CM Eknath Shinde over with TET going online,
tampering and malpractices officials of software compa-
Ewere reported in the Teachers’ 400,000 budget private schools nies have also become embroiled in
Eligibility Test (TET) 2019-2020 writ- (BPS). TET scams and scandals.
ten by 3.43 lakh aspirant school teach- According to Prof. Geeta King- In November 2020, the Pune po-
ers, the Maharashtra State Council of don, chair of education economics lice during a raid on the city-based GA
Examinations (MSCE) disqualified and international development at Software Technologies Pvt. Ltd, an ex-
7,880 candidates who wrote the exam University College, London, in rural ternal contractor which conducts re-
and banned them from writing any fu- hamlets of hinterland India, govern- cruitment exams on behalf of several
ture TETs. In the list of proscribed as- ment school teachers are numbered government departments, unearthed
pirant primary school teachers made among wealthiest citizens and enjoy fake identity cards and exam hall tick-
public on August 4, are the names of high social status as their monthly ets displaying TET candidates’ names
three daughters and son of Abdul salaries could be 30 multiples of BPS in the home of the company’s director
Sattar, Maharashtra’s agriculture teachers remuneration. Moreover, Pritish Deshmukh. Further investi-
minister. within the country’s six million gov- gations revealed large-scale tampering
A mandatory exam under the Right ernment school teachers’ community in TET 2018 and 2020 exams. Over
to Education Act, 2009 for gradu- there is little accountability for chil- the next few days, the Pune police’s
ates aspiring to teach in government dren’s learning outcomes or their cyber cell arrested 22 people includ-
schools, TET was introduced in Ma- own classroom attendance. The au- ing Tukaram Supe, former com-
harashtra in 2013 when the RTE Act thoritative Annual Status of Educa- missioner of MSCE, IAS officer Sushil
was belatedly implemented statewide. tion Report (ASER) published by the Khodwekar and Abhishek Sawrikar,
Candidates aspiring to teach in Maha- Pratham Education Foundation re- an external consultant of the state gov-
rashtra’s 71,426 government-admin- ports that learning outcomes of gov- ernment’s education ministry, apart
istered and government-aided prima- ernment school children countrywide from Pritish Deshmukh.
ries/elementaries (classes I-VIII), are are declining year-by-year. Moreover, However, with the new Shiv Sena
required to pass TET with a minimum several studies have documented that (Shinde)-BJP government sworn-in
60 percent average score. 25 percent of all government school on June 30, having appointed Abdul
In the large and rapidly expand- teachers are absent from classes ev- Sattar, the state’s agriculture minis-
ing upwardly mobile urban and peri- ery day. ter despite his progeny being named,
urban middle class of Maharashtra Little wonder the number of gradu- shamed and disqualified in the TET
(pop.125 million) — and indeed ates from obscure undergrad colleges 2020 scandal, and main accused Tu-
countrywide — landing a govern- signing up for TET is rising every year. karam Supe being out on bail since
ment school teacher’s job is a big deal. In 2018, 1.73 lakh candidates wrote May 2022, there are doubts whether
Starting salaries of government school TET, while in 2020, the number of the new Shinde-BJP government will
teachers prescribed by official Pay candidates — most of whom are em- thoroughly investigate the scandal.
Commissions which determine the ployed in BPS, writing TET — more “We don’t believe the investigation
remuneration of Central government than doubled to 3.43 lakh. However, into TET malpractices will reach its
employees (including school teachers) given the weak school and under- logical conclusion since the case has
serve as benchmarks for state govern- grad education of the great majority already been weakened with Tukaram
ments, and are handsome. Especially of TET candidates, the exam has al- Supe being granted bail. Now, with
when compared with teachers’ remu- ways recorded poor pass percentages. the agriculture minister’s children
neration in the country’s estimated In 2018, of the 1.73 lakh candidates involved in this scam, there will be

20 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2022