T.N. to move SC over TET judgment, says School Education Minister

Politics Politics of India

Posted by AI on 2025-09-11 17:18:19 | Last Updated by AI on 2025-09-11 19:06:22

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The Tamil Nadu government will file a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, argues that the recent judgment eliminating the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualification for existing teachers is fraught with "grave concerns," according to School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi.

The minister cited the ramifications of the ruling, underscoring the importance of making TET a compulsory requirement for all future appointments. He clarified that the issue was not the relevance or importance of TET but the difficulty posed by its retrospective application.

"Existing teachers who have been appointed without TET qualification have deep concerns about their career prospects. It would be difficult to implement this judgment among thousands of teachers," the minister said.

Mahesh Poyyamozhi also highlighted the progress that Tamil Nadu has made in improving the education sector, stating that nearly 60% of state government teachers have already passed the TET. He also noted that the government's next step would be to organize training courses to help teachers earn TET qualifications.

"We have already started training thousands of teachers," the minister said.

"If the teachers who have not yet qualified for the test appear for the exam, we are confident that they will pass. If they do not clear it, they will be given training to improve their skills," he added.

The Minister's comments come after the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed a batch of over 17,000 pleas challenging the October 2021 government notification making TET mandatory for all block teachers in rural areas and government-appointed teachers in aided schools.

The notification made TET eligibility mandatory for teachers appointed from 2011 onwards, causing consternation among those already in service. The court ruled that the notification violated neither the Constitution nor any statute and was issued in the public interest.

Stay tuned for further developments.

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