EDUCATION
No TET for
those whose certificates verified between May
2010-Feb 2011
CHENNAI:
Madras high court on Tuesday said candidates aspiring to become teachers and
whose certificates were verified between May 2010 and February 2011 need not
appear for the mandatory Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).
Delivering
the judgement on review petitions filed by 94 teacher trainees, a Division Bench
comprising Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and M Vengopal granted relief to them
after dismissing their petitions by another Division Bench.
In May 2010,
over 32,000 qualified candidates having teacher education diploma were
sponsored by various employment exchanges on seniority as well as communal
reservation basis for teacher selection process. Their certificates were
verified between May 12, 2010 and February 2011.
On August
23, 2010, the Centre notified the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act (RTE Act), as per which a Teachers’ Eligibility Test was made
mandatory for appointment of teachers for Class VI to Class VIII.
Two TET
exams were held by the state government, which had seen less than one per cent
pass percentage, resulting in teacher training qualified candidates resenting
the selection process by a mandatory test, instead of seniority of registration
in employment exchanges.
A batch of
94 such candidates had filed a writ petition, which was dismissed on March 1
last year.
Their appeal
too was dismissed in July last year. In their present petition, filed by
advocates R Sudha and C Uma, they said they were sponsored for selection and
their certificate verification too was completed. Hence they should be exempted
from writing the TET.
Advocate
general A L Somayaji assisted by additional government pleader P Sanjay Gandhi,
however, said mere sponsoring of names by employment exchange and calling of
candidates for certificate verification, by themselves could not be termed
selection. The question of appointment would arise only if a candidate is
selected for the post, he said.
The bench
pointed out that Clause 5 of the RTE Act notification made it clear that
candidates who had taken part in selection process prior to the Aug 23 2010
notification date need not write the TET.
After the AG said no vacancies were available for teachers as on date, the judge said “we direct the authorities to accommodate the review petitioners in future vacancies, without insisting on them to appear for the TET.”
