PATNA, Aug. 5 -- In yet another big pre-election announcement, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday announced preference to domicile in teachers' recruitment and it would be implemented from the next phase this year. "I have given instruction to the education department for necessary amendments in the rules to give preference to Bihar natives (domicile). This will be implemented from the Teachers' Recruitment Test (TRE)-4," he wrote on X. The CM has taken to X on a regular basis to make big announcements of late, though he was known to be quite averse to it earlier. Domicile has been a big issue in Bihar and the Opposition RJD has been playing it up. Bihar also witnessed several agitations over it in the last few years. Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor has also been attacking the government on withdrawal of domicile policy. Even the BJP was opposed to it when it was in the Opposition. In 2023, the protests against domicile policy had turned violent after the police action against protestors. The government had then clarified that the "domicile clause was removed as it was legally not tenable". Now, the CM has ended that issue by directing the department concerned to incorporate domicile in the rules for the next round of teachers' recruitment, which is likely to be completed ahead of the state elections scheduled later this year. Amid demand for Secondary Teachers' Eligibility Test (STET) before TRE-4 to give more eligible candidates the opportunity, the CM announced that after TRE-4 this year, TRE-5 would be held next year and before that STET would be organised. "TRE-5 will be held in 2026 and before that I have issued directive for holding STET," he added. The Bihar government is likely to issue the notification for Teachers' Recruitment Examination (TRE-4) for nearly one lakh vacancies within a week in yet another job push ahead of the Assembly elections. The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) conducts STET, which has been held three times so far -- in 2011, 2019/2020 and 2023. The government had announced to hold STET twice a year in 2024, but it could not take place, though the department had earlier written to the Board to hold it. Kumar said that since November 2005, when the NDA government was formed, efforts had been underway to bring about improvement in education and a large number of teachers were recruited to achieve the objective. Last week, he had announced doubling of honorarium to cooks preparing mid-day meals for students in the government schools, night guards working in the secondary and higher secondary schools, physical education and health instructors. In TRE-1 & 2, .17 million and 70,000 teachers were appointed respectively, while in TRE-3 against 87,774 vacancies, only 66,603 could be filled, while the rest positions remained vacant and would be carried forward in TRE-4. So far, .25 million teachers have already been recruited, while another .25 million fixed pay teachers have also become government employees. The Bihar Board is in the process of holding more eligibility tests to accommodate all as government teachers. Besides, head masters have also been appointed....