Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) Language Inclusion: Committee Seeks Linguistic Data

Ranchi: A five-member ministerial committee set up to review the inclusion of regional and local languages in the Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) has sought district-wise linguistic demographic data before taking a final call on restoring Bhojpuri, Angika, Magahi and other languages that have been excluded from the examination framework.

The panel, during its first meeting held on Monday, asked school education and literacy department to submit the report during its meeting scheduled on Friday.

The committee was constituted earlier this month amid growing dissent within the coalition govt over the exclusion of Magahi, Angika, Bhojpuri and other languages from JTET.

Finance minister and Congress MLA from Chattarpur, Radha Krishna Kishore, who is convening the panel, said the education department was unable to furnish the required figures during Monday’s meeting.

“School education secretary informed the panel that data is available with the Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC), which conducts JTET. However, JAC, too, could not provide the details to the education department. Thereafter, the panel gave the education department time till May 22 to submit a report on the linguistic demographics of teachers and students across the state.”

A sizeable population in the state speak Magahi, Angika and Bhojpuri. “The report has been sought to help establish how many teachers and students use these languages and decide on their inclusion in the JTET framework,” Kishore said.

A committee member said, “The panel has also asked for data on the number of aspirants who had opted for Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Angika in the JTET held in 2012 and 2016. The information is expected to help determine why these were dropped from the present rules.”

The JAC began accepting applications for the exam on April 21. While the test dates are yet to be announced, the application window would remain open till May 21.

In April, Congress MLA and rural development minister Deepika Pandey Singh submitted a memorandum to chief minister Hemant Soren seeking inclusion of Angika, Santhali, Magahi, Maithali, Kudmali, and Kurukh in JTET.