CTET case studies

CTET · Put your knowledge to work in context.

CTET is the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Delhi, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. It exists because Section 23(1) of the RTE Act, read with NCTE notifications dated 23 August 2010 and 29 July 2011, made passing a Teacher Eligibility Test one of the essential qualifications for appointment as a teacher in schools covered by Clause (n) of Section 2 of that Act. The CTET case studies are 5 cases and about 3,691 words.

The group chart, the quiet child, and the borrowed rule

Sunita teaches Class 4 in a government primary school where about 60% of the children are first-generation learners. Her class of 41 includes Ravi, who scores 18/25 on individual worksheets but has contributed nothing in three consecutive group tasks; Meera, who solves 46 − 28 correctly with the column algorithm but insists 'you cannot take 8 from 6' when the same subtraction is framed as rupees and paise; and a group of six children who finish any task in four minutes and then sit idle.

848 words, about 4 min 2

'Ship' read as 'chip': what the errors do and do not prove

Anil teaches English as Language I to Class 3 in a school where most children speak Hindi at home. In a running-record assessment in July, 14 of his 32 children read 'ship' as 'chip', 'thin' as 'sin' and 'back' as 'bag'.

590 words, about 3 min 3

Marking a Class 7 description with nothing but penalties

Farah teaches English as Language II to Class 7 with 44 students. Her term task was a 120-word description of 'a person I admire'.

812 words, about 4 min 4

1/2 + 1/3 = 2/5, and the rotis that say otherwise

Vinod's Class 5 has 36 children. In a fractions diagnostic he found that 19 wrote 1/2 + 1/3 = 2/5; 8 answered correctly; 6 wrote 3/5; 3 left it blank.

620 words, about 3 min 5

When the textbook's water source is not the village's water source

The Class 4 EVS textbook in a coastal village school states that drinking water is drawn from 'protected wells and tanks'. The reality is different: the panchayat tanker comes for two hours every third day, and 22 of the 35 children's families buy 20-litre cans at ₹30 each for drinking.

821 words, about 4 min