Cuttack: Teachers employed in the state’s primary education system before 2011 must pass the Odisha Teacher Eligibility Test (OTET). Those without an OTET pass certificate will not be eligible for promotion. Assistant teachers in Level VI-A must pass OTET to be promoted to senior teachers, and the same is mandatory for promotion from Level VI-B as well.
This directive issued by the School and Public Education Department has triggered strong reactions among primary school teachers across the state. Teachers’ unions have opposed the government’s decision. Some teachers have even challenged this directive in the High Court. Discussions are ongoing about organizing protests against this rigid government decision.
The Public Education Department issued this directive on the 3rd of this month, clearly stating that no promotion will be given without passing OTET. According to this decision, teachers appointed before February 2011 in primary education have been thrown into uncertainty regarding their promotions. Many affected teachers are now preparing to take the OTET exam to avoid losing promotion opportunities.
As a result, the number of applications for OTET has surged. The Secondary Education Board has called for special OTET exams only for in-service teachers recently. According to the old directive, approximately 20,000 teachers from government-aided primary schools were expected to take this special OTET exam.
Since OTET is now mandatory for promotion of all primary teachers, the number of applicants has increased drastically, and currently, around 60,000 teachers have applied. Due to this increasing demand, the board has extended the deadline for filling the OTET forms to the night of the 27th of this month. It is expected that the number of applicants may cross one lakh.
For reference, the state currently employs over one and a half lakh teachers in primary education, of which over 75,000 were appointed before 2011.
Regarding this, Ajit Maharana, convener of Assistant Teachers (Level VI-A), has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the OTET directive for teachers appointed before 2011, along with the promised grade pay increase of Rs. 42,000. On the other hand, the High Court has issued a notice to the state government to respond to the case filed by OTET applicant Subrat Kumar Biswal, and a hearing is pending.