Maharashtra tribal development dept | Ashram school teachers with more than 5 yrs to retire should pass TET within 2 yrs: Govt order

All in-service teachers without TET will have to clear it in the next two years or accept compulsory retirement.

Maharashtra’s tribal development department has declared that all teachers working in Ashram Schools — residential schools for tribal children — who have more than five years of service remaining before retirement should mandatorily pass Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) within two years, which is before September 2027, in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling on retrospective implementation of the TET mandate.

A Government Resolution (GR) issued by the tribal development department on Thursday states, “In the case of teachers appointed before the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, in Ashram Schools under the control of the Tribal Development Department, and who have more than five years remaining before retirement, it shall be mandatory for them to pass the TET within two years i.e. on or before First September 2027 in order to continue in service. In accordance with these provisions, if teachers working in government-aided Ashram Schools do not pass the TET, their services shall be terminated.”

This is the first such order issued by any department of the state on TET mandate after the SC’s ruling in September that said all teachers of Classes 1-8 need to be TET-qualified, based on rules framed under the RTE. While new recruitments already adhere to it, the court ruling clarified that the TET mandate is applicable to in-service teachers too. All in-service teachers without TET will have to clear it in the next two years or accept compulsory retirement. Those having less than five years of service left are given an exemption provided they are not seeking promotion.

When lakhs of in-service teachers under the state’s school education department are waiting for clarity on the retrospective implementation of the TET, the order by the tribal development department, which has nearly 480 Ashram schools under it, has sparked a row. Pointing out that TET was not implemented in the state until 2013, teachers said it would be inappropriate to demand those appointed before that to pass the test within two years.

Highlighting that state’s school education department has maintained silence on the topic for over three months now, teachers complain that the order is indicative of the state’s stand which could mean potential job loss for several teachers.

Mahendra Ganpule, from Maharashtra School Principals’ Association, said, “Since the SC’s TET mandate ruling, the state has remained unclear on its stand on whether or not it will implement it retrospectively. In fact, the school education department has maintained that it is still figuring out a way around it. But this GR now clearly indicates there will be retrospective implementation of the TET mandate after all. But in absence of similar clarity vide a circular or GR by the school education department of the state has led to confusion among teachers’ community across state.”