The Supreme Court today ruled that clearing the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) will be mandatory both for aspiring teachers seeking appointment and for in-service teachers seeking promotion. However, the apex court clarified that this order will not apply to minority-status educational institutions.
A bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Manmohan clarified that teachers with less than five years of service left before retirement will not be required to clear the test to continue in their posts. However, they must qualify for the TET if they wish to be promoted.
Two years' time for old teachers
The court also directed that teachers who were appointed before the implementation of the Right to Education Act (2009) and who have more than five years of service left, will have to pass the TET within two years. "If they are unable to do so, they will have to lose their job. Such teachers will only get terminal benefits," the court said.
Giving relief to minority-status educational institutions, the Supreme Court said that this order will not be applicable to them for now. The court said that whether the RTE Act applies to minority schools or not is a legal question pending with the larger bench of the Supreme Court. "Till the final decision is taken on this, TET will not be mandatory for teachers of minority institutions," the court said.
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