Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government will study the recent order of the Supreme Court making the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for both recruitment and promotion, before preparing fresh guidelines in this regard.
School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond said on Tuesday that the government will carefully examine the Apex Court’s order making TET a must for aspiring as well as in-service teachers seeking promotions.
After a thorough review of the order, the department will take necessary steps while keeping the interests of teachers in mind, he said, adding that the measures being taken by other states will also be examined for implementing the directive.
Noting that many teachers are already serving without qualifying the Odisha Teachers’ Eligibility Test (OTET), the Minister said no such system existed earlier for recruitment and after the Supreme Court’s verdict, the department will act appropriately.
Notably, a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih on Monday ruled that clearing the TET is a must for recruitment and promotion of teachers. Teachers with more than five years left for retirement must qualify the test within two years to continue in service; otherwise, they may opt for voluntary or compulsory retirement with terminal benefits.
However, teachers with less than five years of service remaining have been exempted from the TET requirement. But such teachers will not be eligible for promotion.
The verdict came while hearing multiple petitions from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, which raised questions about whether the TET should be compulsory for teaching services.