The Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic will now be held on January 31, 2021, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal announced on Wednesday. The exam was originally scheduled for July 5.

In a public notice, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which conducts the CTET, said the examination will now be held in 135 cities, up from the previous 112, “to maintain social distance and other safety measures”. The new cities added to the list are Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Begusarai, Gopalganj, Purnia, Rohtas, Sagarsa, Saran, Bhilai/Durg, Bilaspur, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Ludhiana, Ambedkar Nagar, Bijnor, Bulandshahar, Deoria, Mainpuri, Gonda, Pratapgarh, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur and Udham Singh Nagar.

A list of such identified cities will be available on CTET website www.ctet.nic.in .

The Board said the expansion of the city list is done after a large number of requests were received from candidates for change of option for their examination city as they have shifted their place of residence due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The CBSE has also decided to give a one time chance to the candidates for corrections in their choice of the city from which they want to appear in the CTET. The candidates wanting to change their exam city preference can make online corrections from November 11 to December 16 on the website.

“Every effort will be made to accommodate the candidates in the cities opted by them but if the situation arises, they can be allotted any city other than the four cities opted by the candidates,” the CBSE has stated.

CBSE conducts CTET examination to certify the eligibility for candidates to teach at schools affiliated with CBSE. The CTET exam consists of two papers in which Paper I certifies eligibility for Class I to Class V and Paper II from Class VI to Class VIII. Candidates have an option to appear for either one of the papers or both the papers.