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Teachers Must Qualify TET To Remain In Job Or Should Resign Or Take Retirement: SC

  • By Thetripurapost Desk, New Delhi
  • Sep 02, 2025
  • 582

The Supreme Court has directed that now all teachers associated with the teaching service will have to pass the Teachers Eligibility Test i.e. TET to remain in their service or get promotion. 

The bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Augustine George Masih said-

"Teachers who have more than 5 years left in their job will have to qualify the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). If they do not do so, they will have to resign or take compulsory retirement."

However, the bench has given relief to those teachers who have only 5 years left in their service.

The court said that whether this directive will be applicable to minority institutions or not, will be decided by a larger bench. 

The Supreme Court has given this decision while hearing a petition related to the mandatory TET for teaching in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Teacher Eligibility Test i.e. TET is a national level eligibility test to determine whether a candidate is eligible to become a teacher in primary and upper primary classes (classes 1 to 8). This exam was made mandatory by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) in 2010.

According to Section 23(1) of the RTE Act, 2009, the minimum qualifications for teachers shall be prescribed by the NCTE. The NCTE had issued a notification on 23 August 2010 making it mandatory to pass the TET to become a teacher for classes 1 to 8.

NCTE gave 5 years time to the candidates appointed on teaching posts to qualify TET, which was later extended by another 4 years.

Candidates moved court against NCTE's notice. Madras HC bench said in June 2025 that teachers who were appointed before 29 July 2011 are not required to pass TET to continue in service, but passing TET will be mandatory for promotion.

Based on this decision, the Supreme Court has now made it mandatory to qualify TET for both continuation in service and promotion. However, the decision for minority institutions is yet to come.