Top court extends deadline for compliance till August 31, 2028
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, June 1: The Supreme Court has declined to exempt school teachers appointed prior to the National Council for Teacher Education’s (NCTE) notification of August 23, 2010, from appearing for the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), but has extended the deadline for compliance till August 31, 2028.
Meghalaya SSA School Association (MSSASA) president Aristotle C. Rymbai on Monday informed that the apex court bench comprising Justices Dipankar Dutta and Manmohan held that the retrospective implementation of TET was based on amendments made to the Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2017.
He said the apex court ruled that teachers appointed before August 23, 2010 cannot be exempted from TET since the amended provisions of the RTE Act mandate that all teachers appointed up to March 31, 2015 must qualify the examination in accordance with the NCTE notification issued in 2010.
“The Supreme Court observed that it could not exempt teachers appointed before August 23, 2010 from TET as the amended RTE Act clearly stipulates that all such teachers must qualify the examination,” Rymbai said.
He said the MSSASA had filed a review petition on October 24, 2025, seeking reconsideration of the apex court’s September 1, 2025, order directing all in-service teachers to clear the TET within two years from the date of the judgment.
Rymbai said the court, however, granted relief by extending the deadline to August 31, 2028.
He further said only those teachers who are due to retire within the next five years have been exempted from appearing for the TET, while all other teachers, including those seeking promotions, will have to pass the examination.
The association had argued before the court that the order should not have retrospective effect and should instead be implemented prospectively, either from the date of the judgment or from April 1, 2010, when the Right to Education Act came into force in the country and Meghalaya.
“Our plea was that the implementation should begin from August 23, 2010, the date on which the NCTE notified the eligibility criteria for teachers. We had also sought extension of the two-year deadline as it was too short,” Rymbai said.
He informed that over 65 petitions were filed before the Supreme Court by various states and teachers’ organisations across the country, including the MSSASA.
The MSSASA leadership appeared before the court on May 13 and May 29 after the apex court granted them an opportunity to present their case.
