Loading…
The Ministry of Education informed the Lok Sabha that the Supreme Court, by its judgment dated 1 September 2025, held that the Teacher Eligibility Test is one of the minimum qualifications prescribed under Section 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, and is mandatory for appointment as a teacher in schools covered by the Act.
While disposing of review petitions on 29 May 2026, the Court extended the deadline for acquiring the TET qualification from 31 August 2027 to 31 August 2028.
The Court observed that appropriate Governments and authorities should endeavour to conduct the TET periodically — preferably twice a year, roughly six months apart — so eligible teachers get a fair opportunity to comply.
Invoking Article 142, the Court allowed in-service teachers recruited before the RTE Act with less than five years of service remaining as on 1 September 2025 to continue until superannuation without acquiring TET, but ruled that they will not be eligible for promotion unless they obtain the qualification.
The Ministry noted that education is in the Concurrent List and that recruitment, service conditions and deployment of teachers fall within the administrative domain of State Governments and UT Administrations.
Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass any decree or order necessary for doing 'complete justice' in any cause or matter before it. It is the provision the Court reaches for when a strict application of the law would produce an unjust result that no statute anticipated — here, requiring a teacher recruited decades before the RTE Act existed, and within a few years of retirement, to pass an eligibility test created long after their appointment. The Court's solution splits the difference: continuation in service without TET, but no promotion without it. That structure is worth noting because it shows the limits of the power — Article 142 is used to soften consequences for a defined class, not to rewrite Section 23 or exempt anyone from the statutory qualification going forward.
Simple Analogy: The statute sets one rule for everyone. Article 142 lets the Court carve a narrow ramp for those who would otherwise be trapped by a rule that arrived after they did.
Inserted by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2002, it makes free and compulsory education a Fundamental Right for all children aged 6 to 14 years — the right the RTE Act operationalises
The statute enacted to give effect to Article 21A; Section 23 is the provision on teacher qualifications at the centre of this litigation
Requires that a person possess the minimum qualifications laid down by the academic authority notified by the Central Government to be eligible for appointment as a teacher; the Supreme Court has now held TET to be one of those minimum qualifications
The notification by which the National Council for Teacher Education, as the notified academic authority under Section 23, laid down the minimum qualifications for teachers of Classes I to VIII, including the requirement to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test
Used by the Supreme Court to permit pre-RTE in-service teachers with under five years of service remaining as on 1 September 2025 to continue without TET, while barring their promotion
Education moved from the State List to the Concurrent List by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976; teacher recruitment, service conditions and deployment remain with State Governments and UT Administrations
The academic authority notified under Section 23 of the RTE Act; lays down minimum teacher qualifications, including the TET requirement introduced by its notification of 23 August 2010, and issues guidelines for conducting the TET
Conducts the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET), the central counterpart of the State TETs, for teaching eligibility in Classes I to VIII
Conduct their own State TETs and hold administrative responsibility for teacher recruitment, service conditions and deployment
Delivered the 1 September 2025 judgment holding TET mandatory under Section 23 and the 29 May 2026 review judgment extending the compliance deadline
86th Constitutional Amendment inserts Article 21A, making elementary education a Fundamental Right
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act enacted; Section 23 empowers a notified academic authority to lay down minimum teacher qualifications
NCTE notification lays down minimum qualifications for teachers of Classes I-VIII, including passing the Teacher Eligibility Test
Supreme Court holds TET is a mandatory minimum qualification under Section 23, and uses Article 142 to protect pre-RTE teachers with under five years of service left
Supreme Court, disposing of review petitions, extends the TET compliance deadline from 31 August 2027 to 31 August 2028 and urges TET twice a year
The judgment rests on the premise that teacher quality is the binding constraint on the quality of elementary education — the same premise behind NISHTHA teacher training and the Integrated Teacher Education Programme under NEP 2020
The applicability of the RTE Act, and therefore of the TET requirement, to minority institutions protected under Articles 29 and 30 is a distinct and separately contested question
This is a textbook example for Mains: the Court using its complete-justice power to create a transitional class rather than to disturb the statute itself
GS Paper 2 > Polity > Judiciary, Fundamental Rights and Government Policies
General Awareness > Polity and Current Affairs
General Awareness > Indian Polity
Article 21A, the RTE Act and Article 142 are standing Prelims and Mains polity themes
The eligibility examination that the NCTE, as academic authority under Section 23 of the RTE Act, prescribed as a minimum qualification for teachers of Classes I to VIII
The Central Teacher Eligibility Test, conducted by CBSE, the central counterpart to State-conducted TETs
The section requiring teachers to possess minimum qualifications laid down by the academic authority notified by the Central Government
The Supreme Court's power to pass any decree or order necessary for doing complete justice in a matter before it