CG TET 2024: Congress alleges mismanagement at exam centre; seeks retest

RAIPUR: The Congress on Tuesday alleged many students who appeared for the recently-held Teachers Eligibility Test (CG-TET) at an exam centre in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh couldn't complete the test due to the delay in providing answer sheets and refusal by authorities to grant extra time. Addressing a press conference, former chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel demanded an investigation and an opportunity for the affected candidates to sit for retest.

Candidates of the concerned exam centre have also written a letter to Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai demanding bonus marks or cancellation of the TET 2024 exam. The examination was conducted by the Chhattisgarh Professional Examination Board (CPEB) on June 23. Clearing TET is mandatory for the recruitment of teachers at government schools from classes 1 to 8.

Baghel claimed only 160 OMR sheets were initially provided to the aspirants at Maharshi Vedvyas Govt College Bhakhara exam centre for 420 Question Booklets. He said the rest of the OMR sheets were provided after a delay of 90 minutes. "As many as 400 candidates appeared in the exam at this centre (Maharshi Vedvyas Govt College Bhakhara) in the second shift from 2 pm to 4:45 pm. 420 Question Booklets were provided to this centre by the nodal officer of Dhamtari district but only 160 OMR sheets were provided to write answers," Baghel claimed.

After the exam centre in-charge informed higher authorities about the shortfall, 240 OMR sheets were provided at around 3:15 pm after a delay of about 1:30 hours and distributed among candidates, he said. "Despite the delay in providing OMR sheets, the candidates were not given additional time for examination, resulting in them failing to solve all questions," Baghel added. The in-charge of the examination centre had informed the controller of CPEB about the situation and had sought necessary guidance but instructions were not given to give extra time, he claimed. "An investigation should be conducted into why sufficient OMR sheets were not provided to the exam centre as per the number of candidates. Strict action should be taken against the guilty and candidates be given the opportunity to reappear in the examination (at the college)," Baghel said. He has written a letter to the chief minister requesting a decision for student welfare.

CG TET 2024: Delay in OMR sheets

The Congress party shared a letter of Maharshi Vedvyas Govt College Bhakhara principal to the CPEB Controller in which the former has informed about the entire development during the exam. "Due to the delay in providing OMR sheets, the candidates demanded extra time for the exam and guidance was sought from CPEB, Nava Raipur, over the phone. But instructions were received from there that extra time will not be provided," stated the letter.

Meanwhile, candidates at the concerned exam centre have also written a letter to the chief minister demanding bonus marks or cancellation of the entire CG TET 2024 examination. "The exam time was scheduled from 2 pm to 4:45 pm in the second shift. The question paper was given at 2:30 pm while the OMR sheet was provided after a delay of 1:30 hours. At 4:45 pm, the OMR sheets were snatched from all the candidates and submitted. "The candidates asked for extra time but in vain. It will affect the future of all candidates," the candidates said.