Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to step in and amend the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act, 1993, to shield teachers appointed before August 23, 2010, from the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) requirement imposed after a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Stalin said the situation has triggered a nationwide crisis affecting lakhs of teachers, including nearly four lakh in Tamil Nadu alone. Citing the Supreme Court’s September 1, 2025 judgment, he highlighted that all in-service teachers who have not cleared TET must do so within two years or face termination, while those with less than five years of service remaining may continue but cannot be promoted unless they qualify in TET.
He argued that applying TET retrospectively nullifies the earlier exemption granted by the NCTE to teachers appointed before August 23, 2010. According to him, these teachers were lawfully recruited under existing service rules, fully qualified at the time of appointment, and have served the system for years — making the sudden imposition of TET “disruptive” and “unfair.”
Stalin warned that no state can replace such a large number of teachers within a short time due to shortages of qualified candidates, especially in remote and rural regions. He added that denying promotions to teachers for failing an exam introduced long after their entry into service would cause “stagnation and disproportionate hardship,” despite decades of classroom experience.
To prevent mass job loss and large-scale disruption of school administration, Stalin urged the Prime Minister to direct the Union Ministry of Education to amend Section 23 of the RTE Act and Section 12A of the NCTE Act. He said only such amendments can ensure that teachers in service as of August 23, 2010, remain protected from disqualification, retain eligibility for promotions, and continue contributing to the education system without disruption.
