Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been sticking to the selection procedure despite criticism, might well have got a shock when the competency test results were announced this month.

Bihar HRD Minister Prashant Kumar Shahi said the 91.94 per cent teachers who passed the test are eligible to get increment and will retire at 60 years.

The unsuccessful 8,884 teachers will be given another chance and if they fail again, they will lose their jobs, he said.

The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) that conducted the examination said 20 teachers were expelled for using unfair means at the examination.

The Opposition and academicians had long been opposing the teachers’ selection process. The RJD had raised the matter in Assembly several times.

Opposition leader AB Siddiqui said: “We have always been opposing the selection process. Had the government held tests for teachers’ appointments, incompetent people would not have become teachers”.