Agartala, Aug. 30: The Tripura government will hold the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) in December for recruitment of teachers at primary (class I-V), senior basic (class VI-VIII), high and higher secondary school (class IX-XII) and higher secondary (class XI-XII) level.

Chairman of the new teachers' recruitment council, Anup Kumar Dutta, said today: "In response to the state government's request, the Union human resource development ministry gave a two-year grace period. Now we are ready to hold TET for recruitment of teachers for quality school education."

Dutta said a candidate will be allowed to take the TET as many times as he or she likes but the certificate obtained by successful candidates will be valid only for seven years. "All the rules and regulations laid down by the New Education Policy 2009 and the reservation formula of the state will be followed in matters of age and marks required for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."

Candidates aged 40 and below who have secured at least 50 per cent marks in higher secondary will be eligible for taking the TET for primary, senior basic and higher secondary level.

Candidates should complete one-year diploma in teachers' training for primary and senior-basic level while for high and higher-secondary level, two years of teachers' training with 50 per cent marks in masters is required. After the test, the final result will be determined on the basis of 70 per cent weightage for the TET and 30 per cent on board or university exam.

He said TET would have multiple-choice question format.

Dutta said the teachers recruitment council has apart from him, Utpal Chakrborty as member secretary, Prat-yosh Ranjan Deb as examination controller and Sujit Das, Indrani Chakraborty and Jyoti Prasad Debbarma. "The council is operating from the office of state council for educational research and training. We will shift after we get new accommodation. A new email address trbtripura@rediffmail.com will be created to provide all necessary information to applicants," he said.

The issue of TET for recruitment of teachers had emerged as a major issue in 2012 after then PCC president Sudip Roy Barman (now leader of the Opposition) complained to the Union ministry that the ruling Left Front government had been allegedly recruiting its cadres by not conducting the test. The state government subsequently sought two years before holding the TET in view of infrastructure and other problems.