Don’t be ‘self-centred’, RTE is for the benefit of children: Supreme Court tells teachers, States in TET review

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (May 13, 2026) asked teachers not to be “self-centered” and think only about their job security, but spare a thought for children in need of quality education, a right protected under the Constitution and the Right to Education Act.

The court’s oral observations came while hearing a series of petitions filed by States of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and teachers’ associations from West Bengal and Kerala, seeking a review of a September 2025 judgment requiring in-service teachers of classes one to eight in non-minority schools across the country to clear the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) in two years or be “compulsorily retired”.

Tamil Nadu had argued that the judgment affected about four lakh teachers in the State alone. If implemented on the ground, the State would have to bear witness to “classrooms without teachers”, it had contended.

“The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act [Right to Education Act. 2009] exists for the children. Do not be self-centered to say ‘I will only get orders from the court protecting my security of tenure, but will not think about the children’,” Justice Dipankar Datta, heading a Bench comprising Justice Manmohan, addressed the review petitioners.

Justice Datta referred to Section 23(2) of the 2009 Act, which gave teachers five years’ time to get the “mandatory” qualification of TET in cases of shortage of trained teachers and the inadequacy of teacher education institutions.

The judge drew attention to the second proviso to Section 23(2) which was inserted in an amendment to the Act in 2017. It gave a further leeway by allowing teachers appointed or in position as of March 31, 2015, and who did not possess the required minimum academic qualifications, to acquire them within four years.

Retrospective application

Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee for Uttar Pradesh, senior advocates A.M. Singhvi, Rakesh Dwivedi for Madhya Pradesh and other advocates, including Tomy Chacko for Deseeya Adhyapaka Parishad (NTU Kerala), said the retrospective application of TET requirement violated the rights of experienced teachers who were already in service for decades, and performing well in their jobs.

Justice Manmohan said the court had merely reinforced the statutory requirement of a minimum qualification, which was TET clearance, for teachers.

“Higher educational qualifications are sought to get better teachers. Unless a child gets a good quality education, how will she improve?” Justice Manmohan asked the petitioners.

The court reserved the review pleas for judgment.

The case touches on the livelihood of over 25 lakh teachers. The September 2025 judgment had reasoned that the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009, which was implemented from 2010, required teachers to clear TET. The Bench, however, had exempted teachers with less than five years to retirement from taking the TET.