In the case of recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, prima facie we find a 60-65 percent cut-off for Shiksha Mitras in the recruitment examination quite high. The court also said in its oral comment that we do not think there should be any objection to the inclusion of B.Ed students in this examination. The hearing in this case will continue on Thursday.
A bench of Justices UU Lalit and Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar said verbally during the hearing, “We do not think there should be any objection to the reshuffling of the cutoff before or after the application for the recruitment examination.” Actually, a group of candidates has challenged the cutoff increase during the examination process. The bench said that for prima facie educators, 60-65 cut-off is observed.
Senior advocate PS Patwalia, appearing for the petitioners, said, raising the cutoff after seeking the application is wrong. B.Ed students are not eligible to appear for Assistant Teacher Examination. The B.Ed candidates did not undertake a six-month bridge course which is an essential qualification for Assistant Teacher. They can only be recruited as trainee teachers. During this, the bench said, the question should not be raised about the eligibility of B.Ed students for the examination.
Several petitions have been filed related to the recruitment examination. Uttar Pradesh Primary Education Association, along with others, has challenged the May 6 order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court. The High Court upheld the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Council’s decision to increase the cutoff for the recruitment of 69,000 assistant teachers. Also, the recruitment process was asked to be completed in three months. The board had set a cutoff of 45 to 65 per cent for general category candidates and increased from 40 to 60 per cent for reserved category in the recruitment process.
The cutoff increase was made after the examination. In this case, the Supreme Court passed the interim order on June 9 and told the UP government that it can continue the appointment process leaving 37,399 posts for Shiksha Mitras. On the other hand, a group of Basic Teacher Certificate (BTC) trained candidates have challenged the inclusion of B.Ed. students in this recruitment examination.
