Tripura govt seeks relaxation of NCTE rules

Tripura Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath today said unless regulations laid down by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and Right to Education are relaxed the state would face a crisis of over 10,000 teachers in different schools of the state.

"We have 12,222 posts of school teachers lying vacant. Even if we recruit all B.Ed trained candidates and those under training right now, the number would be 1,500, Nath told reporters here.

Nath said thousands of students would suffer if the norms were not relaxed.

Earlier on April 20, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb sought the Prime Minister"s intervention to grant one-time relaxation in educational and professional qualifications for teachers in Tripura.

However, on Tuesday last a group of B.Ed trainees staged protest in front of the state civil secretariat and demanded clarification from government as to why the government sought relaxation in teacher"s recruitment.

Nath assured that the interests of B.Ed trainees would not be harmed if the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) granted the plea to relax recruitment norms for one time.

The present number of serving teachers in Tripura is nearly 30,000 among whom 6,864 would retire in the next six years.

Nath assured that his government would not compromise on quality of teachers at any cost.