By Mrinal Banik
Agartala: A recent Supreme Court ruling making the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) a mandatory qualification for teachers covered under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, has triggered concern among thousands of teachers in Tripura.
The judgment is expected to impact a significant number of teachers currently serving in government, government-aided and private schools across the state. Education department sources estimate that nearly 8,000 teachers working in government and aided institutions alone fall within the category affected by the ruling, as they teach students between six and fourteen years of age, the age group covered under the RTE Act.
Officials said the affected group includes teachers from both the Elementary and Secondary Education sectors. The number may rise further when teachers employed in private schools are taken into account.
The Supreme Court, while deciding a batch of review petitions related to teacher eligibility norms, ruled that qualifying TET is an essential requirement for teachers covered under the RTE framework. The court also provided a deadline of September 1, 2028, for eligible teachers to obtain the qualification.
Sources in the education department said data is currently being collected from schools across the state to determine the exact number of teachers who are yet to qualify TET and may be required to appear for the examination within the prescribed period.
The ruling is likely to affect teachers appointed during different recruitment phases over the past three decades. These include science teachers recruited in 1996 and 1997, assistant teachers appointed in 2003 and 2007, and another batch of science teachers recruited in 2012.
However, the court has provided relief to teachers who are above 55 years of age and those who have less than five years of service remaining before retirement. Such teachers are reportedly exempt from the mandatory TET qualification requirement.
The verdict has caused anxiety among teachers who are below 55 years of age and have not yet cleared the TET examination. Many are now awaiting clarification regarding the implementation of the court’s directions and their implications for continued service.
Questions have also emerged regarding teachers engaged under the Samagra Shiksha programme. Since these teachers are not regular government employees and function under a different administrative arrangement, uncertainty remains over whether the Supreme Court’s directions will apply to them in the same manner.
The development has also sparked discussions among various teachers’ and employees’ organisations operating in the state. These include organisations affiliated with different political and ideological groups.
While reports suggest that teachers’ bodies in several states have approached the Centre seeking reconsideration or clarification of issues arising from the judgment, no major protest or organised campaign has yet been witnessed in Tripura.
Attention is now focused on the measures the state government may adopt to address the concerns of affected teachers and whether employee organisations will take up the issue collectively.
The judgment was delivered by a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Manmohan while hearing review petitions challenging an earlier ruling in the Anjuman-I-Islam’s Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust case concerning interpretation of provisions of the RTE Act, 2009.