The debate over the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) has stirred strong emotions and resentment across the teaching community. At its core lies a simple truth- teachers are not afraid of examinations, rather examinations are part and parcel of their professional identity. The objection and resentment against the TET is not born out of fear and incompetence but out of concerns over fairness, timing, and dignity.
The Supreme Court of India, in K. Manjusree vs. State of Andhra Pradesh & Ods. (2008), observed that ‘the rules of the game, namely the criteria for selection, cannot be altered by the authorities concerned in the middle or after the process of selection has commenced.’ This principle was even reinforced in 2023, when a Constitutional Bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud unanimously held that ‘The rules governing a public recruitment process cannot be changed midway.’ These pronouncements are not only technicalities, rather they are foundational principles of justice, equality, and administrative fairness.
Teachers currently in service have already demonstrated their merit through competitive and transparent recruitment processes at zonal, district, or at divisional level. If a Teacher Eligibility Test was considered so essential, it should have been then incorporated into the recruitment process at the time of appointment. To impose it decades later is not a measure of competence, but a denial of fairness and equality. More importantly, it strikes at the dignity of teachers who have already proved themselves before different recruiting agencies.
The Supporters of the test today argue that knowledge must be continuously updated and refreshed. This is true to the core, and teachers, perhaps more than any other professionals, I think must remain lifelong learners to ensure quality education. Yet this principle raises critical and thought provoking questions. Why is it applied selectively to primary and middle school teachers, I mean teaching upto Class 8th only as per the judgment? Is quality education less important at the secondary, higher secondary, College or at university level? If updating knowledge through examination is essential, why not apply the same standard across all levels of education?
Teacher at middle level, A lecturer at Hr secondary Level, A professor at College or University level, all are teachers first, let’s be fair, let’s use the same yardstick? Students in these almamaters too deserve quality education!
The issue extends beyond education as well. If the real intent is to ensure competence and remove deadwood, why is this logic confined to teachers alone? Should not doctors be periodically reassessed and reexamined to stay updated with medical advancements throughout the world? Should not engineers refresh their technical knowledge skill and expertise, especially when infrastructure collapses expose lapses in work and supervision? Newly constructed bridges recently collapsed during inauguration, NREGA drains hardly last one single season but who cares? Should not bankers, revenue officials, judicial officials undergo similar evaluations from time to time to update their knowledge skill and expertise?
Applying selective measures to one profession only, while ignoring others, is not reform, it is nothing but discrimination.
The larger truth is that competence has never been in question for teachers. Teachers have been demanding examination from last decade for promotional purpose, they will surely welcome it with open hands, and then best lot will be promoted. Many teachers have excelled not only in their teaching roles but also in competitive examinations outside their field. Their only objection to this illogical mid-career TET is not a plea for exemption, but a protest against humiliation. It is about the principle that dignity, once conferred through a legitimate and transparent recruitment process, cannot be withdrawn today arbitrarily.
It is also troubling that some voices trivialize this opposition, attributing it to incapability and incompetence of teachers. Such remarks only betray ignorance of facts, figures and principles alike. They reduce a constitutional question of truth, fairness and equality to deeply rooted envy in their hearts. Mockery does not strengthen and solidify education, it undermines the respect for those who shape every other profession.
Teachers are not against reforms. Their profession demands continuous growth adaptation and new innovation. Teachers are ready to embrace dynamic changes, upgrade their knowledge, and adopt new methodology and pedagogical methods, But reforms must be structurally fair, consistent, legal and introduced transparently from the outset of the recruitment process itself. They cannot be imposed retroactively in ways that erode sanctity dignity and create distrust at large.
If the Supreme Court truly aspires to strengthen education system, it must begin by respecting its teachers. The debate is not about shielding incompetence, it is about fairness, consistency, and justice. Above all, it is about recognizing that the dignity of teachers is the dignity of education itself. Doctors, engineers, bankers and even the judges, who pronounced the judgment, all have passed through the same classrooms guided by the same lot of teachers.
In the end, the debate over TET is not only about an examination. It is about justice, equality, and honor. It is about a profession that forms the foundation of all others and it is about a principle that must remain inviolable.
Author is a Teacher posted at UPS Koota Sathri Sumlar Bandipora. reyazmalik83@gmail.co
