TNTET : No teacher job without clearing eligibility test’
Tamilnadu TET |Teachers Eligibility Test|Compulsory
Education Act | RIght To Education Act | TNTET
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has dismissed a batch of petitions from teacher trainees seeking appointment as secondary school teachers and graduate assistants on the ground that they did not clear the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) as prescribed in the RTE Act.
Passing an order, Justice D Hariparanthaman on Monday observed that the petitioners have staked their claim to the posts based on the verification of their certificates done by the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) during 2010-11 without insisting on TET. "If the plea is accepted, then more than 20,000 persons could get entry without the minimum qualification of TET. This court cannot issue such a direction to appoint them contrary to statutory provisions and constitutional mandate. Hence all petitions are dismissed," the judge said and cited a 2010 Supreme Court order in this regard.
The SC had held that the appellants did not have an indefeasible right to claim appointment against advertized posts and that the vacancies have to be filled up as per statutory rules in conformity with the constitutional mandate.
Delving into the history of recruitment of teachers, Justice Hariparanthaman noted that at various times, the local authorities and the state education department had applied different yardsticks of selection - sometimes going by merit and at other times depending on seniority in employment exchange registration.
A government order (GO) dated August 17, 1987 had made it clear that all recruitments by TRB should be on merit, not based on employment exchange seniority. However, in 1990 yet another GO was issued dispensing with the selection procedure and contemplating selection strictly based on seniority in registration with employment exchanges.
In a GO issued on November 15, 2011, the Tamil Nadu government said the recruitment of secondary grade teachers will be based on the statewide employment exchange seniority and the graduate teachers for classes six to ten will be recruited based on TET. Four petitioners, however, wanted secondary school teachers to be recruited based on merit.
If the plea is accepted, then more than 20,000 persons could get entry without the minimum qualification of TET. This court cannot issue such a direction.
News Source / Sabhaar : articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com (24.9.13)
