TET results sparks concern among in-service teachers, unions seek exemption

Many in-service teachers who appeared for Andhra Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (APTET)-2025 and failed to qualify are grappling with the demoralising impact of their performance in the examination.

The TET results released by HRD Minister Nara Lokesh recently showed that of 31,886 in-service teachers who appeared for the exam, only 15,239 (47.82 per cent) qualified. The test outcome has triggered a debate with teacher unions arguing that when more than half of the teachers, many of them with decades of classroom teaching experience, fail to qualify, it clearly indicates that the examination does not reflect classroom teaching competencies.

“TET has no meaningful connection with assessing actual teaching ability and is therefore unsuitable as a qualifying benchmark for experienced in-service teachers,” said Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) State president G. Hrudaya Raju.

Arguing that TET cannot be imposed on in-service teachers, as “it is unjust and unscientific”, the federation has also expressed concern over the pattern of cut-off marks for in-service teachers — 90 for OC, 75 for BC, and 60 for SC candidates, and demanded that a uniform qualifying mark of 35 per cent be fixed for all in-service teachers, irrespective of community, and that the results be re-declared accordingly.

The issue gained prominence with the Supreme Court ruling given on September 1, 2025, stating that all teachers, including those appointed prior to the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in 2010, must mandatorily pass TET, reiterating provisions of the 2017 Central legislation.

Challenging this verdict, APTF, along with several other teachers’ associations and State governments, including Telangana, filed review petitions in the apex court seeking exemption from TET for teachers appointed before 2010. APTF specifically filed Review Petition seeking judicial review and relief for affected teachers.

The Supreme Court’s ruling that TET is now a non-negotiable requirement for anyone seeking appointment as a teacher, including the in-service teachers aspiring for promotions has triggered unrest. “The ruling of the court that teachers appointed prior to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), and who still have more than five years left in service, will be given a two-year grace period to pass the test and those unable to do so will have the option of voluntary or compulsory retirement, with terminal benefits, is a cause of major worry for the serving teachers who fall in this category,” said former MLC K. S.. Lakshmana Rao, who has been demanding amendment to the Central Act to exempt in-service teachers from TET.

Pointing to G.O. No. 51, issued during the Congress regime under the chief Ministership of Kiran Kumar Reddy in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, which explicitly stated that TET qualification was not mandatory for teachers recruited before the enactment of the Education Act, Mr. Lakshman Rao argues that subjecting the service teachers now to such pressure is unfair. He said the TET syllabus was excessively complex and unrealistic and cited examples where a biology teacher was required to study mathematics, making the test disconnected from actual teaching practice.

“We want the State government to exert pressure on the Centre to amend the Act and provide exemption for in-service teachers from the TET requirement,” he said.