Ranchi: After a 10-year gap, Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) will conduct the Jharkhand Teacher Eligibility Test (JTET) on Nov 1, with nearly 5.65 lakh candidates set to appear at 986 centres across the state.The examination will be held in two shifts — from 9.30am to noon and 2pm to 4.30pm.To ensure its smooth conduct and prevent malpractice, the chief secretary and DGP will hold a joint review meeting with deputy commissioners and SPs on Thursday. District authorities have been asked to submit final preparedness reports before the examination.JAC has prepared a detailed standard operating procedure and checklist for the test.The return of JTET is expected to accelerate the recruitment of teachers in govt schools. Of the 50,000 assistant teacher posts sanctioned in 2022-23, requisitions for 26,000 vacancies were sent to Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC). However, only around 11,000 appointments have been made so far, leaving nearly 39,000 posts vacant.School education and literacy department secretary Uma Shankar Singh said the delay in holding JTET had been a major hurdle in the recruitment process as the state did not have enough eligible candidates.“Once the examination is conducted, we are hopeful that all vacant positions will be filled soon,” Singh said, adding that the results are expected within two months. The department will then send fresh recruitment requisitions to JSSC.JTET was held only twice earlier — in 2013 and 2016. It remained stalled over disputes related to eligibility norms and repeated legal challenges. The examination is now being conducted under the newly framed JTET Rules, 2026.Parimal Kumar, president of Jharkhand Sahayak Acharya Sangh and former head of JTET Uttirn Shikshak Bahali Morcha, said aspirants had fought for a decade for the examination to be held.“We have fought for conducting JTET and teacher appointments for the last 10 years. The new regulations remove all previous discrepancies. Holding this examination is critical given the massive vacancies in state govt schools,” he said.Kumar said the regular conduct of JTET would also help address unemployment among trained teachers. “Thousands of candidates earned teacher training degrees over the past decade but remained unemployed because the examination was suspended. Regularising JTET will help address the teacher shortage and cushion youth unemployment,” he said.