PATNA, Aug. 25 -- The Bihar education department on Monday announced an increase of 886 teaching posts under the fourth Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE-4), taking the total vacancies to 33,274 from the earlier notified 32,388, officials said. Education minister Mithilesh Tiwari has described the figure as final for the year. The additional posts, largely in humanities and related streams, have been requisitioned to the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). The announcement of a 'nominal' increase in vacant positions did little to quiet the agitation that has stretched into its third week near Gardanibagh. Job aspirants, many of whom have been on dharna for around 20 days, continue to press for a single-stage examination on the lines of earlier TRE cycles, the scrapping of negative marking, and a firm calendar for regular recruitments. The commission and the government held the line on both the two-stage format and negative marking. BPSC examination controller Rajesh Kumar Singh made the commission's position unambiguous at a press conference. There will be a preliminary test (PT) followed by mains and negative marking will apply. The PT is expected in December this year or January next. Applications open from September 1 to 30. The controller said the dual pattern was adopted to reduce the risk of irregularities, citing the Radha Krishnan committee recommendations that followed the NEET-UG episode and advice from the economic offences unit (EOU). Other states, he noted, already conduct teacher recruitments in stages. When pressed on the protesters' demands and lingering questions over answer-sheet evaluation from the 70th combined civil services examination, Singh displayed the answer sheet of the third-rank candidate in the 70th batch to reject claims of irregular marking, stating that the candidate had left two parts of a question unanswered and that marks are awarded based on the quality of responses. Those unsatisfied, he added, were free to approach the courts. Final results of the 71st batch, he said, are expected in September-October. Tiwari, speaking separately, defended the two-stage system....