Barely 3.22% of teachers who appeared in the first-ever examination for the post of headmasters (HMs) in government schools could make the cut, going by the results announced by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) on Thursday.
Against 6,421 vacancies released for the post of HMs, only 421 could qualify, which means nearly 97% posts would still remain vacant.
Officials said OMR sheets of 87 candidates were cancelled by the BPSC, as they did not mention the question paper series, while 12,547 candidates could not secure the minimum eligible marks, which was 40% for the unreserved category and economically backward upper castes, 36.5% for backward classes, 34% for extremely backward classes and 32% for SCs/STs, women and the physically challenged.
Last year, the education department had decided to create separate cadres of head teachers in primary schools and headmasters in higher secondary schools, to be appointed through competitive examination to improve quality of education and administration.
However, the results have been as disappointing as the first teachers’ eligibility test (TET) conducted by Bihar in 2011, when the pass percentage was merely 2.81%. It was even lower for the women, with a pass percentage of just 1.57%.
Kedarnath Pandey, president of the Bihar Secondary Teachers’ Association, said he would request the government to reduce the cut-off marks to accommodate more teachers, else the very purpose of holding the exam would be defeated. “The questions asked in the exam were very tough and also out of syllabus. Also, the teachers did not get enough time,” he said.
