SC’s TET Verdict: Teachers’ Body to Move Review Plea

Hyderabad: The School Teachers’ Federation of India (STFI) has asked the Centre to move a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict of September 1 that makes passing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) compulsory for all in-service teachers with more than five years of service. The federation warned that the ruling could endanger the jobs of nearly 25 lakh teachers appointed before August 23, 2010, and called for amendments to Section 23 of the Right to Education Act to protect them.

On Wednesday, STFI leaders C.N. Bharti, Chava Ravi and T.K.A. Shafi submitted representations at the Prime Minister’s Office and to the education minister and education secretary in Shastri Bhawan. “The judgment has created insecurity for senior teachers who have already put in 20 or 25 years of service. They never had to consider TET as mandatory since both NCTE and several state governments had previously granted exemptions. Now the ruling has threatened their livelihood. We request the government to step in and provide protection,” they said.

STFI has suggested two possible courses of action. Filing a review petition in the SC or amending Section 23 of the RTE Act, 2009.

Alongside these demands, STFI representatives met NCTE Chairman Pankaj Arora and Secretary Abhilasha Jha Misra and submitted a separate memorandum calling for changes in the TET syllabus and qualifying marks. They argued that the present pass marks of 60 percent for general candidates, 55 percent for OBC and 50 percent for SC/ST are “excessively stringent” and lower pass rates. They asked that the thresholds be revised to 50, 45 and 40 percent respectively.

The memorandum also criticised the design of Paper II, which they said forces language teachers to attempt questions in social studies or mathematics, subjects outside their training.