The State Government is planning to file a fresh petition before the Supreme Court, focusing its legal strategy on securing a definitive exemption from the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for approximately 70,000 teachers recruited between 2005 and 2009. The School Education Department is positioning this upcoming petition to argue that these specific educators should not be legally compelled to clear a secondary eligibility test, given that they had already passed State-administered competitive selection examinations conducted through Vyapam to secure their initial appointments. If the apex court accepts this targeted argument from the State, it will provide critical career relief to nearly half of the total teaching workforce currently facing strict federal compliance mandates. The current legal confrontation stems from a landmark Supreme Court directive issued in September 2025, which led the State’s Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) to issue formal operational guidelines in April 2026.

 

Those administrative orders directed both the School Education and Tribal Affairs Departments to organise a special session of the TET during July and August for all teachers appointed between 1998 and 2009 - a period predating the statutory implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Under the Supreme Court’s absolute framework, educators with less than five years of remaining service are granted a total waiver, whereas those with more than five years of remaining service must clear the TET or face compulsory retirement from public service. The compliance window, originally capped at August 31, 2027, was subsequently extended by the court to August 31, 2028. Sources indicate that following extensive consultation with the State’s legal department and senior Supreme Court advocates, the State Government is positioned to file the formal petition within the week.

 

While departmental administrators remain clear-eyed regarding the narrow probability of success given that the apex court has already dismissed more than 65 separate review petitions on this matter, officials maintain that this targeted legal attempt is necessary to protect the domestic interests and long-term employment status of the State’s veteran educational workforce.