Tamil Nadu seeks review of Supreme Court judgment directing teachers to qualify for TET or quit service

Tamil Nadu was the first state that gave school teachers two options – the right to teach the conformity test (TET) within two years, or to review a Supreme Court decision to retire.

On September 1, 2025, the two judicial bench of justice called Dipankar Datta and Manmohan, in accordance with Article 142 of the Court, in accordance with Article 142 of the Constitution, in accordance with Article 142 of the Constitution, in order to direct the TET in two years.

The Court justified that the 2009 Right of Education (RTE) Law, which has been applied since 2010, required teachers to clean the TET. The counter has given the teachers for less than five years to retire the option to receive the TET.

There are in -service teachers who are hired before the entry into force of the RTE Law and to retire from retirement more than five years ago, if any of such teachers will be under the obligation to qualify in two years to continue their service.

More than one state from Uttar Pradesh to Kerala expressed his intention to search for a review of the judiciary.

Tamil Nadu said in a petition that the decision affected only four Lakh teachers in the state. If it is applied on the ground, the state will have to testify to “non -teacher classes .. Since teachers would focus more on the preparations for the time for the next two years, children would ultimately suffer because they had to save their living.

The state argued that the RTE law and norms could not be applied retrospectively. In the investigation, Tamil Nadu, Batı Bengal and Odisha, including many state governments, trained teachers, and the inadequacy of teacher education institutions in these states, considering the inadequacy of the RTE Law in accordance with the 23 (2) section of the center suggested by the center.

“The cause of the cause is not limited to the teaching community. Only Tamil Nadu Province employs 4,49,850 teachers in government and assisted schools if 3,90,458 are not qualified. The Constitution that Eden is not by excluding almost all the teaching power.

The state argued that “even if the goal of increasing the quality of teaching is accepted as legitimate, the pre -201010 appointments are clearly disproportionate to pass the teeth of disqualification pain”.

The state proposed “less interventionist alternatives such as in -service training, capacity development, refreshing courses or bridging programs in order to achieve the same goal without extinguishing and destabilizing the education system.