Applicants queue up to submit application forms at KB Sahay Government Girl’s School in Patna on Friday. Picture by Jai Prakash

Patna, Aug. 5: the state human resource development (HRD) department has received around 20 lakh applications for the Teachers’ Eligibility Test, one of the biggest examinations Bihar has witnessed in recent years.

As today was the second last date for filling up forms, long queues were seen at various counters where the forms were being submitted. The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and Bihar School Examination Board has been given the task for holding the examination and according to the approximate number of forms submitted, it is likely it will break all records of number of examines appearing for the examinations being held in the state in recent times.

Long queues were seen at various schools counter and a large number of girl applicants, too, have applied. At KB Sahay Government Girls’ School, Shastri Nagar. A large number of women applicants were seen in long queues waiting to submit their forms.

Archana Pathak, who had come to fill her forms at KB Sahay Government Girl’s School, said: “It is for the first time that the state government is organising such a big examination for teachers’ recruitment and candidates applying for the test have a good chance to clear the examinations.” She added that as the examinations are being conducted for teachers under two categories— classes I to V and classes VI to VIII, candidates who have gone through the syllabus till matriculation examination stand a good chance of making it through.

Meanwhile, HRD principal secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said: “The rules under which the teachers would be appointed under Teachers’ Eligibility Test, has been prepared and it will be introduced in the cabinet for a final approval soon.”

The Teachers’ Eligibility Test is being conducted by the state government with an aim to appoint three lakh teachers in government schools in three years.

The Bihar School Examination Board has been assigned the job of conducting the examination and it is a big challenge for the board to hold the test as prior to this examination, the board had conducted the matriculation examination where around nine to 10 lakh students had appeared for the test. The examination will be held in two categories, the first Teachers’ Eligibility Test examination for candidates applying for teachers post for classes I to V, while the second category will be for candidates applying for classes V to VIII. The eligibility criteria for the tests are also different for both the categories. For those applying for the first category, the eligibility criteria is Intermediate with 50 per cent marks or students having Intermediate qualification and training in primary school for two years.

The eligibility criteria for the second category is graduation or students having a graduation degree along with training in Bed. The dates for the examination has not been announced as yet.