By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Feb 3: Meghalaya and several other states are awaiting a Supreme Court hearing on review petitions filed against a September 1 order that mandates the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for all in-service teachers.
Law department sources on Tuesday said that states are waiting for the apex court to begin hearing the petitions. The ruling currently directs that TET be compulsory for every in-service teacher in the country, regardless of their years of service or experience.
Both the Meghalaya government and the Meghalaya SSA Schools’ Association (MSSASA) have moved the Supreme Court seeking a reconsideration of the judgment. In Meghalaya alone, the jobs of over 32,000 government teachers who have not cleared the TET are at risk if the verdict remains unchanged.
In its appeal, the state government is urging the court to exempt teachers appointed before the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The government argues that the court’s order is being applied retrospectively and that subsequent National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) notifications had already established professional standards for those staff.
