Prof. Saleem Ayaz Rather
A teacher is said to be the builder of nation and is regarded as a noble profession but non transparency is usually complained by non-recruited candidates. During earlier time neither there was any criteria fixed nor any interview for selection simply a candidate who was declared successful in middle standard exam had to approach education authorities with an application of having passed the middle standard exam and he or she was then handed over the selection letter. Later on matric was fixed as the basic qualification for school teacher. Applications used to be invited which was followed by the interview of candidates. Then with the passage of time 10+2 was fixed as the basic qualification for school teacher. A candidate with higher qualification was given the preference for selection. Now in the recent years a new turn was given to the selection criteria by the recruitment board. The basic qualification for school teachers remained the same as 10+2 but the candidates with 10+2 qualification were divided into two categories. Category one, those candidates having secured 50 per cent marks in 10+2 could fill up the application form for the post of school teacher .Category two, candidates having secured less then 50 per cent marks in 1o+2 were not allowed to apply for the post of school teacher. Not only this right from 10+2 on wards each academic qualification was given the weight age points.
Thus all candidates with 50 per cent marks in 10+2 were not called for interview until and unless their names were shortlisted on the basis of academic and weight age points, thus again a large number of candidates were not shortlisted for the same. After going through the weightage map given by recruitment board it was clear that it justified the proverb “the higher you go the cooler it is” since as we move from lower qualification to higher qualification say 10+2 to graduation postgraduation and PhD etc one becomes equipped with more and more knowledge and accordingly the points allotted to each qualification should show an increase.
But here the phenomenon was completely reverse. 30 Points had been allotted to 10+2, 10 points for graduation, 15 points for B.Ed, 10 points for MA, 10 points for M.Ed and five points were left for PhD which is the highest academic qualification although the points allotted to B.Ed were justified as the course primarly deals with the professional training of a candidate to make him suitable for teaching and learning but at the same time we cannot ignore candidates who had utilised their precious five to six years in research studies and that also merely for five points. Let’s take an example of a candidate who had secured 60 per cent marks in 10+2 and same in BA, B.Ed ,MA etc.Thus according to the points allotted to each academic qualification the total points of this candidate in 10+2 becomes 18(60/100×30=18) similarly in BA he gets six points in B.ED nine and in M.A six points thus the total points of the candidate becomes 39 and the same candidate gets 10 points in the interview thus his total points becomes 49. Now there is another candidate who had secured 50 per cent marks in all the academic qualifications right from 10+2 on wards up to M.A Thus his total points in 10+2 becomes 15, in B.A 05, in B.ED 7.5points and in MA five points and his total points becomes 32.5 and the same candidate is awarded 18 points in the interview and gets selected while as the former with 60 per cent of marks in academic qualification is dropped and such candidates complain of non transparency in the selection process even if they had awarded as per the performance in the interview thus the interview part becomes the deciding cum controversial factor in the selection process. Not only this one of the candidate who had 35 points was awarded only five points in the interview thus could not find his/her name in the selection list ,similarly another meritorious candidate was Gold Medalist in MA Pol.Science was not selected as teacher but was later on selected as lecturer10+2 by the state Public Service Commission.
A new amendment has been made in the selection process and now the selection for various posts shall be made on the basis of a uniform written test. As per Govt. order No. 252- HE of 2012 dated 30th May 2012 that reads as the present system of screening for the purpose of short listing being adopted by the recruiting agencies where in recruitment is made by giving weight age to the performance in the academic examinations should be dispensed with and the service selection board or for that matter any authority including State Public Service Commission with the responsibility to make selection for any office or the post under the State shall hold a uniform written test for all the eligible aspirants for advertised posts. The marks obtained in the written examination shall be taken into account for making the selection and where the response to an advertisement notice is enormous the recruiting agencies including J and K Public Service Commission shall go in for a uniform screening test to shortlist the candidates thus the criteria for the post of teacher where basic qualification is 10+2 preference will be given to those candidates having higher qualification and those having passed M.ED, B.ED and Diploma in ETT/NTT. Marks obtained in the written test out of 180 marks to be proportionately converted into points i.e 65 points(pro-rata basis) The points for academic qualification will be as under,
Graduation=02points,ETT/NTT= 1points,PG=2points,B.ED=3points, M.ED= 3points, M.phil =2points,
PhD after M.phil,= 2points
Ph.D(Direct Without M.phil=4points
Viva-voce=20points
Total =100points
Some suggestions that need to be taken into consideration are—
1)Interview part for selection for school teachers should be abolished.
2)The basic qualification for the candidates applying for school teacher should be at least graduation and not 10+2 as is being currently followed.
3) The entrance examination should be of 200 marks and of graduation level
comprising of two papers
Paper 1, general studies
Paper 2, optional subject.
Paper 1 will be common to all candidates while as Paper 2 that is optional subject should be selected by the candidate as per their choice whether they belong to arts, science or commerce stream. Both the papers should be of multiple choice and each paper should carry 100 marks each and the selection of the candidate should be made on the basis of marks secured in the examination and thus best talent available will be selected for this noble profession. IF any candidate feels that his/her answer scripts have not been evaluated satisfactorily such candidates should be provided the Xerox copies of the answer scripts after completion of certain formalities as may be decided by the Service Selection Board. As a result of this the entire recruitment process will become transparent.