Guwahati, Dec. 9: The first Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in Assam will be held in January 10.

Assam will be 10th state in the country to conduct TET for recruiting teachers in schools by evaluating aspiring candidates’ academic brilliance as well as assessing their aptitude for the profession.

The Board of Secondary Education, Assam, will conduct the test at 561 examinations centres across the state.

Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said altogether 3,56,914 candidates will appear in the TET to be conducted to recruit teachers for the lower primary and upper primary schools in the state.

“The government will declare holidays at the schools and colleges where the TET will be held. Timings of the TET will be from 8.30am to 11am for candidates who have applied for teachers in lower primary schools and 12.30pm to 3pm for those applied for upper primary schools,” he said.

The postal department will start dispatching admit cards to the aspiring candidates from December 12 and will complete the process by December 25.

If any candidate does not receive the admit card within the stipulated time, he or she can contact the nearest post office for information.

Sarma said the question papers were being set by a renowned university in the state and candidates would write their answers in either of the following languages — Assamese, English, Bengali, Bodo or Hindi.

The number of candidates writing the test in Assamese will be 2,84,727 followed by 41,000 in English. Only 344 candidates have opted for Hindi medium.

According to the minister, 14,160 differently-abledstudents would appear in the TET and they would get 50 minutes extra to write the test.

Among them, 844 candidates are visually challenged, 11,695 hearing-impaired, 1,300 locomotor-impaired and 167 suffering from autism.

Sarma said the answer scripts of TET would be evaluated through a system by using computers to avoid any mistakes and maintain transparency.

He said there would a committee of teachers and experts to monitor the evaluation process and results of TET would be declared within 20 days from the date of the test.

“The government will also start a scheme from next year for continuous one month training of10,000 high school teachers in the state to update their skills. The scheme, to be implemented every year, will motivate teachers to impart quality teaching,” he said.

He said the government would also spend Rs 400 crore to pay teachers of the existing venture schools eligible for provincialisation till 2016.

Sarma said the government would give Rs 2 lakh for excursion, Rs 1 lakh for publication of magazine, Rs 50,000 for college week and Rs 50,000 youth and cultural activities to 200 colleges in the state annually from the next financial year.

While 4,000 high schools will receive Rs 50,000 for publication of magazine, Rs 25,000 for sport and Rs 25,000 for cultural events.