Cuttack, Aug. 8: Orissa High Court on Wednesday permitted the state government to conduct Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) for appointment of teachers in primary and upper-primary schools on the condition that the government first completes the process of engagement of Sikshya Sahayaks.

The order was passed after the government submitted that the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) prescribed passing in TET as one of the essential qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as teacher for classes I to VIII under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

The court also clarified that after engagement as Sikshya Sahayaks, the candidates would have to clear the Odisha Teachers Eligibility Test (OTET) by January 2013.

A batch of petitions filed by applicants for the posts of Sikshya Sahayaks had challenged introduction of TET on the ground that it was not included as one of the eligibility criteria when the advertisements inviting applications for direct recruitment were issued last year.

The government had published district-wise advertisement in December 2011. In the process, the districts had prepared merit lists of 17,942 candidates for Sikshya Sahayaks, a category of primary teachers whose jobs become regular in six years on the basis of career evaluation.

But the school and mass education department had asked the districts to keep the recruitment process on hold after the government decided to introduce TET and issued a notification on April 2, 2012.

The state government had designated the Board of Secondary Education, Odisha, as the professional body to conduct the TET.

Subsequently, the school and mass education department issued guidelines for conducting the OTET through a notification on June 4, 2012.

Advertisements were then issued for the first OTET, which was scheduled to be held on August 5.

In an interim order on August 2, the court imposed restriction on conducting OTET till disposal of the 12 petitions.

“Disposing of the petitions, the single-judge bench of Justice Sanju Panda directed the state government to complete the process of engagement of the Sikshya Sahayaks before conducting the OTET,” said Sandip Parida, counsel for state school and mass education department.

Parida further said the court specified that the candidates would have to qualify the OTET after engagement as Sikshya Sahayaks.