Allahabad High Court upholds minimum qualifications for assistant teacher

The Allahabad High Court upheld the validity of an order of the Government on the basis of requirements of minimum necessary qualifications for a post of assistant teacher in a recognised junior high school.

As per the GO, candidates applying for the post of assistant teachers would need to have a graduation degree from a university recognized by the University Grants Commission, along with a teachers training course approved by the state government or the National Council for Teacher Education.

The observation came from a two-judge bench headed by Allahabad HC Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra while hearing a special appeal filed by the state government against the judgement dated September 24, 2024, reports PTI.

In the judgment in 2024, a single judge of Allahabad HC allowed the writ petition submitted by Yashank Khandelwal and nine others, and set aside clause 4 of the government decree dated September 9, the same year.

Clause 4 of the government order dated September 9, 2024, prescribes the minimum eligibility criteria to be satisfied for appointment to the post of assistant teacher in a recognized junior high school.

A writ petition was filed to direct the respondent authorities to permit the petitioners and such other candidates to seek admission to a two-year Diploma course known as DElEd conducted at the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), based on their Intermediate Certificate Examination or an equivalent qualification.

It also aimed at quashing the impugned government order prescribing graduation as the eligibility criterion for admission to the two-year Basic Training Certificate course.

After hearing the parties, the division bench observed that a peruse of various rules and provisions shows that apparently at first instance, they relate to the appointment of assistant teachers in basic schools, where ‘training’ has been given due importance.

It further noted that even for a training course recognized by the government or any training qualification notified by NCTE to teach Classes I to VIII, the intent of the law is that only graduates are eligible for appointment. "Therefore, if the State Government in every Government Order right from 1998 till today has prescribed graduation as minimum qualification for taking admission in B.T.C./D.El.Ed. course, the same being in consonance with the Rules of 1981 and not said to be an arbitrary provision," added the Court. With all those observations, the single judge's order dated September 24, 2024 was set aside, and the respondents' writ petition was dismissed.