Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) in 20 languages.
In another tweet subsequently, he said "#CTET examination will be held in English, Hindi, Assamese, Bangla, Garo, Gujarati, Kanada, Khasi, Malyalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Mizo, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan & Urdu @cbseindia29" .
Earlier, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi took to Twitter to express dismay over the fact that Tamil was not considered as one of the languages for the exam. She said that students of Tamil would be at a disadvantage in the exam if question papers were not set in the language.
Playing the federalism card, she said the Centre’s move was against the State’s welfare.
The Teacher Eligibility Test is an entrance examination for teachers, and is mandatory for getting teaching jobs in government schools from Class 1 to Class 8. The test is conducted by both central and state governments.