He criticised the government’s decision to double the TET fees compared to Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), asserting that it is unfair to levy such high charges on candidates.
Published Date – 1 April 2024, 08:00 PM
Hyderabad: Former Minister and Siddipet MLA Harish Rao strongly opposed the significant hike in Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) fees, expressing concern over the burden it places on the government job aspirants.
He criticised the government’s decision to double the TET fees compared to Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), asserting that it is unfair to levy such high charges on candidates.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday, Harish Rao highlighted the detrimental impact of the fee hike on unemployed youth, particularly those from marginalised sections.
He said the government’s failure to provide fee concessions for SC and ST as well as differently-abled students, is unacceptable, considering their financial constraints.
He urged the State government to reconsider the fee hike, pointing out that other States as well as the Centre offer fee concessions for reserved category candidates and lack of such provisions is violation of the constitutional principles.
Drawing the State government’s attention to the ongoing protests by B.Ed. and D.Ed. candidates for fee concession, the former Minister questioned the government’s indifference to their demands.
“Notwithstanding the number of papers attempted only Rs 400 was collected towards TET fee under the previous BRS rule. But the Congress government is now collecting Rs 1,000 for one paper and Rs 2,000 for two papers which is double the fee collected for CTET,” he added.
He also asked whether the current state of affairs aligned with the State government’s much-hyped ‘Indiramma Rajyam’ and ‘Praja Palana’ slogans.