The primary education board will carry out biometric registration of candidates who will write the teachers’ eligibility test (TET) in 1,460 centres on December 11.
The authorised agency will use biometric tablets and devices to conduct “facial recognition and fingerprint scans of the candidates”, says a detailed guideline that the board issued on Saturday.
The guideline lists steps like the use of hand-held metal detectors for frisking purposes before the start of the examination and the installation of CCTV cameras at the entry, and exit points and at the control room of each venue.
About 6.9 lakh candidates will write the tests.
The use of hand-held metal detectors and the installation of CCTVs are not new in public exams in Bengal.
But the biometric registration of each candidate through facial recognition has never been tried in any public examination before, said an official of the school education department.
“The centre-in-charge is requested to allow the authorised agency of the board to conduct biometric verification…. at each examination centre for TET-2022 examination….. For the Biometric registration of the candidates, personnel of the authorised agency will use biometric tablets and devices to conduct facial recognition and fingerprint (left thumb) scans of the candidates,” says the guideline signed by Goutam Paul, the secretary of the ad-hoc committee that has been constituted to run the board.
Invigilators have been told to ascertain that no candidate is allowed inside the room unless one copy of the admit card has the “frisking done” sticker pasted on it.
The guideline says candidates will be allowed to leave the exam hall/room only with the examinee’s copy of the OMR answer sheet (green in colour) and question booklet for TET-2022.
At the end of the examination, candidates have been instructed to hand over to the invigilator the original copy of the OMR answer sheet for TET-2022 (pink in colour).
“A set of OMR is being given to the candidates so they can tally their answers with the model answers that the board will later upload on its website,” said Partha Karmakar, the deputy secretary (academic) of the board.
Sources said the board has plans to give the candidates the scanned copy of the OMR sheet based on which the results will be published.
“If we can do this, then the candidates won’t have to file any RTI to know how they have been evaluated,” said a source.
An official of the department said that during the earlier TET examinations held in 2015 following a notification in 2014 and in 2021 following a notification held in 2017, candidates were not allowed to keep any copy of the OMR.
The previous board president, Manik Bhattacharya, who was arrested by the ED in October following allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of primary teachers, also stands accused of destroying the OMR sheets of the previous exams in violation of norms.
The guidelines also state while frisking, observers will ensure that frisking personnel are checking inside both ears for any Bluetooth earphones or microphones.