TET 2017

Teachers can attempt TET more than once:  Madras High Court

         In a relief to in-service teachers, the Madras High Court ruled that teachers do not have to clear the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) in one attempt to continue their service and granting an interim injunction that restrains the state govenment from insisting the same.

                   The court heard a petition by SKDJ Higher Secondary School BT assistant R Sathiamurthi who challenged the Director of School Education’s directive that teachers should pass the TET in one attempt to keep their teaching jobs. The petitioner referred to the provisions of the RTE Act of 2009 and asked for time until March 31, 2019 in the interest of justice and to restrain the School Education department from enforcing such a norm. The petitioner stated that a School Education Department order and a National Council for Teacher Education notification mentioned that TET should be conducted at least once per year, which makes it mandatory for the Tamil Nadu to conduct one, or more than one, TET every year. The petitioner pointed out that the govenrment had not conducted a test since 2013 and no valid reason has been provided for this. 

          The lack of a test lead to the appointment of teachers who had the required qualifications as per Special Rules but who had not appeared for the exam. He added that the provisions of the RTE Act had been ammended after a batch of petitions were filed on January 2017 to extend the time limit fixed to aquire the minimum qualification up to March 31, 2019. He stressed that while the test had to be held at least twice a year, according to NCTE rules, it has been three years since the government has conducted the exam as required under the law. He then pointed out that under this situation, a directive was issued by the DIrector of School Education on March 1 for teachers to clear the exam in a single attempt