Amid continuing uncertainty over the retrospective implementation of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) mandate following a Supreme Court directive, the Maharashtra school education department has started collecting data on in-service teachers to assess the potential impact before taking a final decision.
The exercise involves categorizing teachers teaching classes 1 to 8 based on age, year of appointment, TET qualification status at the time of appointment, as well as those exempt from the TET requirement. According to the state government, the data will help assess the extent of the impact of the Supreme Court ruling.
The Directorate of Primary Education has issued a letter directing education officials to submit verified data from all government and aided schools. In the letter, Director of Primary Education Sharad Gosavi, referring to the Supreme Court ruling making TET mandatory, said information has been sought in three separate formats through education officials at various levels.
These formats include categorization of teachers by age along with their TET status in relation to the year of their appointment, specifically distinguishing between teachers appointed before and after 2011, the year the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) introduced TET. Data is being collected separately for teachers serving grades 1 to 5 and grades 6 to 8 under the Directorate of Primary Education.
The third format seeks general information on the status of TET implementation in the state, including the total number of teachers, those appointed before and after 2011, teachers who have passed the TET since its introduction, and those exempt from the requirement.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, TET is mandatory not only for new appointments but also for in-service teachers who have more than five years of service left. The ruling establishes that these teachers must pass the TET within two years or face mandatory retirement. This has raised concerns about potential job losses and their impact on staffing levels at government-run and subsidized schools, which already face teacher shortages.
Although TET was introduced nationally in 2011, its implementation in Maharashtra did not begin until 2013. Teachers appointed before this continue to serve without qualification. Many argue that their appointments were made under the recruitment rules in force at the time and that penalizing them now for not possessing TET would be unfair.
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Teachers’ organizations have warned that the ruling could affect more than one lakh in-service teachers across Maharashtra. However, sources in the school education department said collecting age-wise data is expected to provide a more accurate projection of the impact rather than relying on estimates. According to the ruling, teachers who have less than five years of service remaining can continue in their positions but will not be eligible for promotion.
A senior official said, “This data will be presented to the central government and the NCTE, whom the state government has already approached for clarity on the retrospective implementation of the TET requirement for appointment of teachers. Since many in-service teachers passed the TET in the recently conducted attempt, the impact may not be as severe as initially anticipated.”
