Teachers Eligibility Test required to continue in service; applicability on minority institutions to be examined by larger Bench: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) is a mandatory requirement to continue in teaching service or to seek promotion.

The Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, however, provided relief to the teachers who have only five years to reach their age of superannuation and directed that they may continue in service.

Teachers who have more than five years in service are mandated to qualify the TET to continue service, the Court said. Otherwise they may quit or apply for compulsory retirement with terminal benefits, it added.

Pertinently, the question of whether State can mandate TET for minority institutions and how it would affect their rights, was referred to a larger Bench.

The Court passed the judgment on a batch of petitions, including from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, related to the issue of whether TET is mandatory for teaching service.

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in 2010 had laid down certain minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in Classes I to VIII in a school. Subsequently, NCTE introduced TET.