Over 8,00,000 candidates appearing for the statewide Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) on December 15 will not be allowed to write their answer scripts in Hindi. The reason? The state education department seems to have overlooked the national language even though candidates can answer their papers in Marathi or Urdu if they so wish.

This year, over eight lakh students from across the state are appearing for their BEd and DEd exams. A significant number of them are from non-English medium schools and many of them prefer answering questions in Hindi. A person is recruited as a teacher in the state only once he or she has cleared the TET.
Taking note of this seemingly curious bias against the national language, the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee teacher cell (MRCCTC) has dashed off a letter to the state education minister to allow candidates to answer the papers in Hindi along with Marathi and Urdu.