CHENNAI: Teachers who have not passed the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), as required by the Children’s Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act), are not entitled to continue working in educational institutions, the Madras High Court said on Thursday.
Today, the future of around 1,500 teachers in government-subsidized schools has become uncertain, according to an estimate by the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association.
“All these teachers were appointed in 2011-12, and have not had a raise since. We are asking the government to pass a special test so that they keep their jobs,” said the president of the association. , PK Ilamaran. Tamil Nadu has conducted five TFWs since 2012, the last in 2019.
Dismissing a batch of petitions filed by BT Assistants, Judge D Krishnakumar said that although 12 years have passed since the RTE Act came into effect, teachers have remained in service without meeting the eligibility criteria of the successful completion of the ETT in accordance with Section 23 of the RTE Act, 2009, and the RTE (Amending Act), 2017.
It was mandatory for teachers who had not passed the TET before the 2009 RTE Act to take the exam within nine years, no later than March 31, 2019, the judge noted. “Thus, teachers who do not have the minimum qualification for success in TFW are not entitled to continue their service in schools / educational institutions”, he added, and urged the authorities to ensure “strict compliance” with the instructions issued by School Education. Secretary dated May 2, 2019.
“Perform a test every year”
The court ordered the school education department to hold a TFW once a year to allow teachers to qualify. However, he gave the department the freedom to seek an appropriate remedy by approaching the Union Department of Education.
The applicants, who were employed before the entry into force of the RTE law, had applied to the court to request the payment of annual increases and incentive increases
