Tamil Nadu Challenges Supreme Court TET Judgement, Files Review Petition

Tamil Nadu has 4,49,850 teachers working across different schools, of this 3,90,458 are not TET certified.

Tamil Nadu government has approached the Supreme Court with a review petition challenging its September 1, 2025, ruling that requires all school teachers, including those hired before 2010, to pass Teachers' Eligibility Test (TET) to keep their jobs.

The apex court's September 1 decision is based on the 2009 Right to Education Act, which mandates TET as a necessary qualification for teaching elementary classes and gives teachers with at least five years of service, giving two years time to comply.

Tamil Nadu govt in its review petition has argued that this rule should only apply to teachers appointed after April 1, 2010, when Act took effect. Before 2010 recruitment for teaching posts was not done as per TET requirements.

The state government in its petition has emphasized that applying the rule retroactively could unfairly end careers of thousands of experienced teachers who have served for years under different standards.

Tamil Nadu has as many as 4,49,850 teachers working across schools, of this 3,90,458 are not TET certified.

The review plea mentions that enforcing SC order would lead to job losses, disrupting education for millions of students enrolled in various schools across state, destabilizing public education system. It also states that such a move would cause violation of spirit of the Right to Education Act, which aims to ensure free and compulsory education for children.

Tamil Nadu govt as an alternative has proposed conducting training and bridging programs for these teachers to improve their skill.

The Supreme Court has not yet announced a hearing date for the review petition, other states like Uttar Pradesh are also planning to approach SC with similar plea.

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