T.N. govt withdraws appeals filed against exemption from TET granted to minority schoolteachers

The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday withdrew from the Supreme Court a batch of appeals filed by it early this year challenging several orders passed by the Madras High Court not to insist upon teachers, serving in minority run aided schools, to clear Teachers Eligibility Test (TET).

In the application for withdrawal filed before the top court, the Director of School Education (DSE) S. Kannappan stated that the government had taken a policy decision to accept the orders passed by the High Court and therefore, the directorate does not wish to pursue the appeals anymore.

Senior Counsel Rev.Fr. A. Xavier Arulraj, representing the schools, said, the withdrawal of the appeals would benefit the schoolteachers appointed in minority institutions before January 12, 2023. He said multiple division benches of the Madras High Court had taken a consistent stand on the issue.

Advocate Sr. Arulmary said the High Court had time and again ruled that minority schoolteachers need not clear TET since the Supreme Court, in 2014 itself, had held that the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act of 2009 would not be applicable to institutions run by minorities.

The High Court had suggested that the State government could, instead, conduct refresher courses for the teachers of government aided private minority schools in order to keep themselves updated on the new teaching techniques expected from the faculty members.

The State government initially took the orders on appeal to the Supreme Court but eventually decided to withdraw those appeals.