Gujarat: Annual exams for government school teachers

Moneycontrol News

In another first, Gujarat government school teachers will have to appear for annual exams, starting this year after the state’s education department decided to introduce the ‘Shikshak Sajjata Kasoti’ or the Teacher’s Preparedness Test. However, private school teachers are exempt from this exam.

As per a report in The Times of India, the education department officials have decided to conduct this exam with an aim to improve the quality of education in the State. Around two lakh teachers, teaching in over 36,000 schools in the state, will be taking this exam. There would not be any minimum grades. Education Secretary, Sunaina Tomar, along with a high-level committee of officials from the state’s education department had convened to discuss the quality of education in the state and poor results of students. After brainstorming, they decided to introduce the ‘Shikshak Sajjata Kasoti’ or the Teacher’s Preparedness Test.

This year, the test might be conducted during the months of August or September. According to the officials, Gujarat is the first state in the country to assess the social skills, understanding of the subject taught, and pedagogy of the government school teachers.

The Gujarat Council of Education Research and Training (GCERT) has designed the exam which would be of 150 marks and would cover topics ranging from the subjects taught in school to aptitude and pedagogy. The report also quoted TS Joshi, Director of GCERT, as saying, “We have not heard of a similar test being conducted by any other state in India. The purpose of the test is to assess teachers on different parameters and help them grow by identifying areas where there is a scope of improvement. Phase-wise training can also be conducted afterwards.”

The state’s education department believes that the test might help them identify the problem areas and correct them. This would eventually lead to the development of the teachers and better performance of the students.