Thu Sep 11 15:53:08 UTC 2025: ## News Article: Tamil Nadu Government to Challenge TET Ruling, Citing Teacher Shortage
**Chennai – September 11, 2025:** The Tamil Nadu government announced Thursday it will file a review petition in the Supreme Court regarding its recent ruling on the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET). The move comes in response to growing concerns about the potential impact on over one lakh in-service teachers appointed before 2011.
The Supreme Court had mandated that all teachers lacking TET qualification must acquire it within two years, or face compulsory retirement. Teachers with less than five years remaining before retirement would be allowed to continue, but without eligibility for promotion.
School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi stated that while the government supports continuous improvement in teacher quality and affirms TET as a compulsory requirement for future appointments, the retrospective application of the ruling is a major concern. He warned that implementing the judgment as it stands would trigger mass compulsory retirements, leaving schools across Tamil Nadu with a crippling shortage of teachers. He added that recruiting and training an equivalent number of TET-qualified replacements within the stipulated timeframe would be “practically impossible.”
The review petition will be based on the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, arguing that Section 23 regulates minimum qualifications only for new appointments and doesn’t authorize compulsory retirement for existing teachers. The petition will also cite the NCTE notification of August 23, 2010, which exempted teachers appointed prior to that date from TET provisions.
The Minister emphasized that the retrospective application of TET “unsettles vested rights of lawfully appointed teachers, causes disproportionate hardship, and threatens the stability of the education system.” He said the petition seeks to “strike this balance by protecting the livelihoods and service rights of in-service teachers, while maintaining strict compliance with TET for all future appointments.”
Tamil Nadu Post Graduate Teachers’ Association general secretary S. Prabhakaran welcomed the government’s decision, expressing hope for a favourable outcome, given the widespread impact of the Supreme Court ruling.
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