TRB to create question bank to assess quality of teachers

CHENNAI: As Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) has been restructured recently by  the state government to equip it to carry out recruitment of teachers in all educational institutions including schools, colleges, polytechnics and state universities, measures are also being taken to ensure the quality of the selected teachers.

It has been decided to bring out a question bank which will provide proper guidance to the aspiring teachers. An eight-member high-level committee will be formed to create a well defined set of questions that will assess the aptitude, reasoning and analytical skill of the candidates.

A state government order in this regard said, “The quality of selected candidates by TRB should be excellent in order to achieve the desired learning outcome of the students. This is possible only by improving the quality of the question bank.”  A high-level team comprising controller of examination, TRB chairman nominee, director of SCERT, director of collegiate education, representative of State Council for Higher Education, a retired vice chancellor of any university, an expert consultant, subject expert in language, humanities, mathematics and science, and academicians from reputed institutions will frame the question bank. The committee will submit its recommendations within three months of its formation.

Similarly, to keep upgrading the quality of the teachers, it has been decided to change the syllabus of the question bank once in every five years or after two recruitment years, whichever is earlier. The syllabus revision committee may include faculty from IIT, deemed universities, centre of excellence and eminent experts in subjects.

TRB officials said along with giving priority to recruitment of quality teachers, the government has also decided a slew of measures to ensure that the teachers’ recruitment are conducted with transparency.
The TRB has been asked to create a centralised monitoring room equipped with LED projectors, laptops, computers with internet facility for real time monitoring through centralised CCTV observation and dashboard during duration of the examination to ensure transparency. Besides, the website of the TRB will also be fully revamped.

“The move will improve the confidence in the examination system and provide timely actions and solutions,” said a school education official. Earlier TRB used to carry out only certificate verification of the candidates provided by employment exchanges on the basis of seniority. It was also conducting Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). Recruitment of teachers in universities and colleges was done by the respective institutions.

However, to enhance its powers, the government has revamped it completely. The TRB will now have a chairman in the rank of an IAS officer.