Pune : State government’s correspondence to the Union Education Ministry and the National Council for Technical Education
The Supreme Court has made Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for teachers in Zilla Parishad, Municipal Corporation, Municipal Council, as well as aided, partially aided and unaided schools.
Several teachers’ organizations have filed a review petition in the court against this decision. Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government needs to change the law instead of a review petition. Therefore, an official from the education department informed that the state government has written to the Union Education Ministry and the National Council for Technical Education against the mandatory TET without filing a review petition. Many teachers’ organizations have also sent request letters demanding a change in the law.
Teachers’ organizations in various states have become aggressive against the decision to make TET mandatory for teachers. Due to this result, about 1.50 lakh teachers in the state will have to take the exam. Many of these teachers will retire in the next two to three years. Therefore, many teachers’ organizations across the country have approached the Supreme Court and filed a review petition. Some teachers’ associations and state governments have also sent a request letter directly to the Union Education Ministry expressing the need to change this rule. However, the state school education department has clarified that it will not file a review petition. The Supreme Court is likely to reject the review petition. Therefore, instead of filing a review petition in the court, a senior official of the school education department said that they have directly corresponded with the Union education ministry.
The Right to Education Act was implemented in 2009-10. However, if the act itself had mentioned that this exam should be taken only for teachers joining the service after the act was implemented, there would have been no problem. But now, only if the central government changes the law, this TET will be canceled. That is why our efforts are underway, this official clarified. If the central government takes a decision in this regard in time, this exam is likely to be canceled. Otherwise, all teachers will have to give this exam scheduled by the state government in December. The state government will not be able to break the orders of the Supreme Court, this official said.
