Patna, April 5: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) has announced the schedule for the next Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). The examination is being held after a gap of six years.

The online application of forms will commence on April 6 and the TET will be held on June 11. The last date for filling the online application form is April 25.

Around 25 lakh candidates had appeared for the last TET held in 2011, a record in terms of number of applicants.

In 2011, when the state government had conducted the first TET, it was announced that the test - a gateway for appointment of teachers in government schools - will be held at regular intervals. It took more than six years for the state government to conduct the next TET.

The TET will be held in two categories - first for candidates applying for teachers' post for classes I to V, and the second for candidates applying for teachers' posts for classes VI to VIII.

Since the examination is being held after a gap of six years, the upper age limit for applying for the TET is 35 years for general category candidates, and 38 years for women from general category. For candidates from Other Backward Caste (OBC) category the age limit has been fixed at 38, while for SC/ST candidates the upper age limit is 40 years.

The examination will have a set of 150 questions with each question carrying a mark each to be solved in 150 minutes. The topics will be child development and education science, language, mathematics and environment studies.

BSEB chairman Anand Kishor said: "The test will be held on June 11. The school examination board has started preparations for smooth conduct of examinations."

The board has also announced the eligibility criteria for both the examinations. For candidates applying for primary schools, the eligibility criteria is Intermediate and two years' teacher training in elementary education from a recognised institution.

For candidates applying for the upper primary teachers post, the eligibility criteria are undergraduate and two years' training in elementary education from a recognised teacher training institution. The board will upload all information related to the TET on its website soon.

The board has also asked the candidates to provide their mobile numbers and email addresses while applying for the test. Madhukar Anand, a student of Patna College, said: "It is good that the state government after a gap of six years has invited applications for teachers' post at government schools. It is a big opportunity for candidates, especially for those from rural areas."

From this year, answer sheets with barcodes and optical mark recognition sheets would be introduced in the TET to make the examination more transparent.