Union leaders told at the meeting that the verdict became possible only because the Central Government and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) failed to present correct and complete information before the court.
Hyderabad:Teachers’ unions from across the country have decided to launch a national-level united struggle demanding that the Central government grant exemption from the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) requirement for all teachers already in service. The decision came at a round table meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, where representatives said the Centre must act without delay. “It is unfortunate that, even 15 years after the implementation of the Right to Education Act, the Supreme Court verdict on September 1 stated that teachers appointed before the Act must also pass TET within two years,” they said.
Union leaders told at the meeting that the verdict became possible only because the Central Government and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) failed to present correct and complete information before the court. They added that the situation has worsened because the Centre has remained indifferent even three months after the judgement, though teachers across states have been protesting and some MPs have raised the matter in Parliament.
The meeting took place under the chairmanship of STFI president C.N. Bharti at Harikishan Singh Surjeet Bhawan in New Delhi, with 15 representatives from eight national teachers’ organisations. Participants said the current stand has caused anxiety among thousands of teachers who joined service long before the RTE Act came into force.
Alongside the TET exemption issue, all representatives agreed on a wider set of demands to be taken up through a united national struggle. The release listed these as the scrapping of NPS and UPS and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme; scrapping of the National Education Policy; stopping the merger and closure of schools; reducing non-teaching workload on teachers and confining them to teaching alone; replacing temporary and contract employees in the education sector with regular appointments; and providing minimum wages.
