Karnataka proposes teacher recruitment rules prioritising competitive exam scores, fuels fears of encouraging coaching centres

The Karnataka government, which has amended the teacher recruitment rules, has brought in a major change in the weightage of marks, giving more importance to the competitive exam score rather than the marks obtained in B.Ed. and D.Ed. courses.

As per the Karnataka Education Department Services (Department of Public Instruction) (Recruitment) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, a total weightage of 0.90 points is given to competitive examination. Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) has reduced the weightage to pre-university (PUC), degree, B.Ed and D.Ed courses to 0.10 points.

Aspirants for the posts have alleged this will facilitate private tuition mafia.

Earlier rules

For the recruitment of government school teachers, the selection authority prepares a merit list of eligible candidates based on the percentage of marks obtained in the competitive examination, TET, degree education and teacher’s education course, using weightage, and calculating the derived percentage. If two or more candidates obtain equal (derived percentage) marks, the one who is senior in age is considered.

Earlier, while filling the posts of Primary School Teacher (PST), teaching from classes 1 to 5, and Graduate Primary Teacher (GPT), teaching from classes 6 to 8, the merit list was prepared by giving 0.35 weightage to the marks obtained in the competitive examination, 0.15 weightage to the marks obtained in the TET examination, 0.25 to the marks obtained in the degree or PUC, and 0.25 weightage to the marks obtained in teacher’s education courses.

Also, for candidates with a four-year teacher education degree, 0.35 weightage was given to the marks obtained in the competitive examination, 0.15 weightage to marks obtained in the TET, and 0.50 weightage was given to the marks obtained in the four-year B.L.Ed., BA/B.Sc ED degree and other courses.

Amendment to rules

The State Government has amended the Karnataka Education Department Services (Department of Public Instruction) (Recruitment) Rules, 1967, and introduced the draft of the Karnataka Education Department Services (Department of Public Instruction) (Recruitment) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, and issued a gazette notification on January 21, 2026.

As per the draft rules, steps have been taken to give 0.70 weightage to marks obtained in the competitive examination, 0.20 weightage to the marks obtained in the TET examination, 0.8 to the marks obtained in the degree or PUC, and only 0.2 weightage to the marks obtained in the teacher’s education courses.

The draft proposes to give 0.70 weightage to the marks obtained in the competitive examination for candidates with a four-year teacher education degree, 0.20 to the marks obtained in the TET, and 0.10 weighatage to the marks obtained in the four-year B.L.Ed., BA/BSc ED degree.

Aspirants oppose draft rules

The teachers post aspirants have expressed opposition to the draft notification.

Ravikumar S.N., a teachers’ post aspirant, said, “Special training is given in D.Ed. and B.Ed. courses. Teaching by understanding the mindset of children is a big challenge. However, it is painful that the government has given only 0.2% weightage to these courses.”

Another aspirant, Bhavya D.R., said, “Most of the candidates are from rural areas and poor families. Since the State Government has given more weightage to competitive exam scores, we need to study for competitive exams more than for PUC, degree, B.Ed or D.Ed courses. Coaching centers related to CET, NEET and other recruitments are already exploiting candidates by charging fat fees. Now that more emphasis is being placed on competitive exam scores for teacher posts, more coaching centers will come up.” She alleged that the government has created an environment where it is impossible to get a job without coaching.