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The Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test (PSTET) will be conducted on Sunday amid protests and boycott calls by several teacher unions. The district administration has set up 23 examination centres for PSTET-II and 19 centres for PSTET-I to conduct the test in two sessions.
The examination comes in the backdrop of large protests by teachers across Punjab. Last week, several teachers gathered in Chandigarh to oppose the eligibility test requirement, arguing that experienced teachers should not be asked to re-establish their eligibility after decades of service.
In Ludhiana district, some schools have openly boycotted the test. Teachers at Government Primary Schools in Lohara and Jawahar Nagar said they have decided not to appear for the examination as part of the protest.
Rupinder Singh Gill, joint secretary of the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), said the union has been opposing the Supreme Court’s decision on the matter and had demanded that the state government file a writ petition. “We had staged protests earlier and will continue to do so until the decision is reconsidered. Teachers who have been serving for more than 25 years should not be forced to prove their eligibility again,” he said, adding that many union members have chosen to boycott the test.
Some teachers, however, will appear for the examination but plan to wear black bands as a mark of protest. Daljit Singh Samrala, district president of the DTF, questioned the requirement of such tests for promotions. “Teachers who have been teaching for more than two decades should not have to appear in another exam to prove their competence,” he said.
The test will be conducted in two sessions, with the morning session starting at 9.30 am and the afternoon session at 2.30 pm. Officials said 8,364 candidates are expected to appear in the first session, while 6,674 candidates will take the exam in the second session.
Authorities have designated Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, as the nodal centre for conducting and coordinating the examination in the district.
