Candidates who cleared the 2024 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) faced police intervention on Friday while marching towards the official residence of Tripura Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha, demanding immediate recruitment. Police stopped the protesters near Town Hall in Agartala.

The candidates alleged that they have been seeking appointment for nearly two years and have repeatedly submitted deputations and staged protests before the Tripura Teachers’ Recruitment Board, the Education Department and the Directorate of Elementary Education. However, they claimed that no satisfactory action has been taken so far.

The protesters pointed out that several schools across the state are facing a shortage of teachers, while a large number of teaching posts remain vacant. Questioning the delay in recruitment, one of the protesters said, “There are vacant teaching posts and schools are facing a shortage of teachers. Why are we still not being appointed even after two years?”

According to the candidates, around 50,000 applicants appeared in the latest TET examination, while 1,856 candidates remained after the verification process. They expressed concern that the prolonged delay could cause several candidates to cross the upper age limit for applying for government jobs.

The protesters claimed that around 20 to 25 candidates have already crossed the age of 40, while several others are only about a month away from reaching the applicable age limit. They fear that further delays could deprive them of their opportunity to secure government employment.

The TET-qualified candidates clarified that they are not seeking any relaxation in examination standards or marks. Their demand, they said, is simply for the recruitment process to be completed at the earliest for candidates who successfully cleared the TET examination and subsequent verification.

The prolonged uncertainty has also affected their livelihoods, the protesters claimed. Many candidates had been depending on private tuition while waiting for government recruitment, but they now say that finding tuition work has also become increasingly difficult.

Expressing anger over being stopped by police while heading towards the Chief Minister’s residence, the protesters said they were being prevented from meeting the Chief Minister even though they wanted to raise what they described as a legitimate demand.

The 2024 TET-qualified candidates have urged the state government to complete the recruitment process immediately and undertake regular teacher recruitment to address the shortage of teachers in schools as well as the growing concerns over unemployment.