TAT candidates protest in Gandhinagar, demand recruitment, more vacancies

Gujarat's capital city Gandhinagar saw a fresh protest of Teachers Aptitude Test (TAT) candidates with their long-pending demands. Thousands of TAT-qualified candidates flocked outside the administrative corridors of Sachivalay on Tuesday, who demanded that the government immediately announce the second round of Teacher Assistant (Gyan Sahayak) recruitment and increase the number of vacant posts. They have warned that they will not leave Gandhinagar until their demands are met.

A protesting candidate said, “We are nearing the age of 40, and this recruitment is our last chance.” They claimed that despite there being a large number of vacant teacher posts in the state, the recruitment process is moving at a very slow pace.

Key demands of TAT candidates

After the first round of recruitment for Teaching Assistants, candidates have demanded a second round to fill the remaining vacant posts.

They also want more than 5,000 additional posts to be included in the second round—these include vacancies arising from teacher transfers, retirements of teachers and principals by May 31, 2025, and other empty positions.

The recruitment committee allotted two schools to some candidates, which has left about 1,500 posts vacant in higher secondary and around 1,400 in secondary sections, totalling more than 2,900 unfilled posts. The candidates are demanding immediate recruitment to these posts to ensure justice for eligible candidates.

They also demand that a final allotment list be published with complete details, including the candidate’s name, subject, category, allotted category, marks, date of birth, and school name.

Similar to the first round, they want candidates in the second round to be given the option to select seats from both general and category-wise quotas on the basis of merit.

The candidates warned that unless the government takes their demands seriously and takes concrete action, they will continue their agitation. So far, neither the government nor the education department has issued any official statement on the matter.