Kerala govt to challenge SC ruling making TET for in-service teachers compulsory

V. Sivankutty, the education minister of Kerala on Monday informed that the state government would approach court against the Supreme Court ruling making the Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) compulsory for all in-service teachers of Classes 1 to 8 in non-minority schools.

The Supreme Court, on September 1, 2025, in its judgment, said that teachers who had been appointed before the RTE Act, 2009, came into force would also need to clear the TET to continue in service and be eligible for promotions.

According to Minister Sivankutty, this order can influence nearly 50,000 teachers in Kerala. He stated, "The order will make appointments and promotions difficult for most of the teachers. The associations of teachers have raised concerns, arguing that retrospective implementation of TET is unfair to veteran teachers."

Sivankutty explained that since education is a Concurrent List topic of the Indian Constitution, the central acts override. The Kerala government has decided to approach the Supreme Court again either by petitioning for review or seeking clarification regarding the implementation of the order.

Teachers with less than five years of service remaining can be permitted to continue until retirement but would not be eligible for promotion without clearing the TET. Teachers with service exceeding five years have a period of two years within which they must clear the TET. Failure in this will result in compulsory retirement but terminal benefits shall be provided.
The order draws its legitimacy from the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and its 2017 amendment, as well as from the 2010 National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) notification which prescribes standard norms of teachers' qualifications.

While acknowledging that the verdict would appear severe on teachers who have spent their entire career for many decades, the top court upheld that the enforcement of minimum qualifications is unavoidable in order to ensure quality education. Minister Sivankutty added further, "The judgment will have far-reaching implications across the country, impacting lakhs of teachers working in government, aided, and private schools."

Sivankutty further claimed that whenever the qualifications of teachers were revised in Kerala, for example, those of the primary and language teachers, existing staff were given safeguard. He criticized both the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments for failing to do the same when they enforced TET norms.