Hold many teacher eligibility tests in a year, says Madras High Court

Passing orders on petitions from G. Nagarajan of M.D. Crane middle school in Tindivanam, and Chitra of Hindu middle school in Tirunelveli district, Justice D. Hariparanthaman said it was stated that TET was conducted only once since 2013 though the requirement for teachers in government/local bodies/aided schools was a pressing need.

Therefore, government should hold as many as TETs as possible, so as to comply with the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 and in the absence of TET-qualified teachers, aided schools have no other option except to appoint teachers without TET qualification.

The present petitioners were working in aided schools but without the TET qualification. Apprehending that they may be removed from service, they filed the present petitions to grant conditional approval for five years to enable them to clear TET.

Citing his earlier order dated April 29, 2013 on a batch of petitions from teachers in which he held that they should be allowed to continue in their posts for five years, during which time they would write TET and pass it, the judge said the order was pas-sed taking note of the fact that no TET-qualified hands were available.

The petitioners were fully qualified to teach in aided schools, but lacked the mandatory TET qualification. They should be granted temporary approval till the completion of the 5-year period which started in 2013, the judge added, and made it clear that they should get qualified in TET within five years, failing which they would automatically go out of employment.