NTS to conduct teachers’ hiring test in December

Karachi, The National Testing System will conduct written tests for the posts of high school, junior school and primary school teachers in December, according to the official statement issued on Monday.

A contract between the education department and the NTS in this regard was signed on Nov 20, according to a spokesperson for the senior minister for education. He said the Reform Support Unit had short-listed the NTS for holding the tests. He said tests for the post of high schoolteachers would be followed by those for junior and primary schoolteachers.

Over 700,000 ambitious teachers who had applied to the Sindh Education and Literacy Department six months ago for around 18,248 teaching posts in primary, junior and high schools still awaiting for response.

The vacancies in education department were advertised in April, with May 20 as the deadline which was extended by a month. By May 20, the education department had received about over 200,000 applications, said an education official. By June 20 more than 700, 000 applications were obtained by the education department. The processing fee was initially set at Rs300 but the provincial education minister reduced it up to just Rs30.

For conducting the written test of the teachers, the reform support unit (RSU) of the education department had invited proposals from various agencies. The top two proposals were Sukkur IBA and the National Testing System. In early September, the RSU officials had said that they were in the process of negotiating finances and other matters of the deal with the top two bidders and it would be finalised by the end of the month. However, the matter still hasn’t been resolved and the education department has yet to get back to any of the candidates.

According to sources in the education department, whoever would be hired would be made thorugh applications and conduct the test. In the meantime, the RSU department has computerised all the applications. The unit was expected to issue appointment letters by December but now it seems that the whole process would be delayed.