PATNA, Dec. 30 -- Bihar Education minister Sunil Kumar on Monday once again announced a tentative date of mid-January for sending the requisition for Teachers' Recruitment Examination (TRE-4) with reservation roster clearance to the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). The education minister said that the requisition for TRE-4, which has been pending for a long time and was a big issue ahead of election, would be sent to the BPSC by January 15-20, which would start the process after issuing the notification and invite applications. "There will be no further delay, as all preparations at the department level have been completed," he added, without elaborating how many vacancies would be there this time. In TRE-1 & 2, 1.70-lakh and 70000 teachers were appointed, while in TRE-3 against 87774 vacancies, only 66603 could be filled. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had in July directed the education department to identify teachers' vacancy at the earliest to intitate the process for holding TRE-4, with 35% reservation for native woman candidates. The idea was to complete the process before the model code of conduct comes into force, but it could not be possible due to one reason or the other, including demand for conduct of Secondary Teachers' Eligibility Test (STET) prior to TRE-4. Though after a lot of delay STET was held in October-November, the results are still awaited. The delay is attributed to reported anomalies in question setting and allegations of several wrong questions. The aspirants had also held protest, but so far there has been no clarification from the Bihar School Examinstion Board (BSEB) or State Council for Educational Research & Training (SCERT) for anomalies. The government had announced to hold STET twice a year in 2024, but it could not happen. BSEB conducts STET, which could be held three times only from 2011 and 2023, while the fourth time it was in 2025. TRE-4 was earlier scheduled from December 16-19 to give opportunities to successful STET candidates, but now it is likely to be in March or April at the earliest. The government had also announced that TRE-5 would be held after TRE-4. The minister also announced that 5500 librarians would also be appointed, while another 7000 vacancies for special teachers have already been sent to the BPSC to cater to children with special needs. The minister said that the government also has plans for developing a model school in every bloc and starting degree colleges. "Besides, there is also a plan for developing reputed old institutions as centres of excellence and developing an education city," he added. However, experts said that infrastructure and incentives, cameras and computers were important, but there was need to find a way for endless, controversy-ridden recruitment exercise, as students could not be left at the mercy of coaching institutes. "In two decades, the appointment process for assistant professors could be held only twice and both continued beyond five years. The second is still on, while hundreds of teachers have retired in universities and colleges. Without adequate number of teachers for classroom teaching and laboratory work, it will be difficult," said social analyst Prof NK Choudhary. The minister, however, said that all the vice chancellors have been asked to appoint guest teachers as per requirement and send updated requisition of vacancies for future recruitment....