Quality education is our goal too but is it humane and practical to ask senior teachers, who have faithfully served for 20-25 years, to write Teacher Eligibility Test (TET)?
Respecting Supreme Court, but seeking a humane alternative for Nagaland under Article 371(A)
In its historic judgement on 1st September 2025 and review order on 29th May 2026, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has made Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) compulsory for in-service teachers who were appointed before the RTE Act, 2009. Teachers with more than five years of service left must clear TET by 31st August 2028, failing which they will face compulsory retirement. Teachers with less than five years left are exempted.
We fully respect the Supreme Court's concern that "service of teachers cannot come at the cost of educational future of children." Quality education is our goal too. But as a society, we must ask-is it humane and practical to apply the same yardstick to a teacher who has faithfully served for 20-25 years?
I place five humble points before the Government and the public:
a) All the world's a stage: You cannot change the rules after the stage is crossed. Senior teachers appointed prior to 2010 were appointed when TET did not exist. NCTE made TET compulsory only in 2011. When they joined, the qualification prescribed at that time was considered sufficient.
As William Shakespeare said, "All the world's a stage," and psychologist Erik Erikson says every stage of life has a different role. You cannot change the rules of a stage when a person has already crossed it. These teachers have crossed the stage of appearing for competitive exams and have entered the stage of sharing wisdom. Asking them to again become fresh candidates is against the natural order of life.
b) Age factor is a reality, not an excuse: This is not a problem of Nagaland alone. The Tamil Nadu Government told the Supreme Court that 4 lakh teachers are affected, Kerala said 50,000 and West Bengal said 90,000 teachers are affected.
For a 50-year-old teacher, who has not sat in an exam hall for 25 years, preparing for an MCQ-based competitive exam causes high anxiety, blood pressure and health problems. Memorising the theories of Piaget, Kohlberg and Vygotsky to tick an answer is totally different from actually applying those theories in a classroom for 25 years. Our senior teachers have done the second part.
c) Stage of Learning: (Experience is also a certificate): John Dewey, the father of modern progressive education said, "Education is experience itself."
Senior teachers appointed pre-RTE have proved adult learning—Andragogy--not through a written test, but through 20 years of classroom results, through hundreds of students who are now officers, teachers and parents. Their experience should be counted as assessment.
Instead of a pass/fail TET, their continuous service can be evaluated through in-service training credits and classroom performance.
d) Principle of Specialisation: A teacher who has taught Science for 25 years cannot be expected to master Mathematics, and Social Science cannot master English at the same level or vice versa. Similarly, our language teachers who are experts in 17 mother tongues of Nagaland, who have preserved our languages when no textbooks were available, should be tested only in their teaching subject pedagogy, not in combined general subjects.
e) Nagaland's Special Status under Article 371(A) and the ground reality: Article 371(A) protects Naga customary law and social practices. In Nagaland, many teachers appointed before 2010 in remote villages were appointed by the Government of Nagaland when no qualified person was willing to go to those villages. They served the Naga society faithfully when no one else could take up the responsibility. Now, if the government of Nagaland wanted to remove them saying that you are outdated would be wrong in the eyes God and man.
To apply a central TET directly without considering this history violates the spirit of 371(A). Teachers are not seeking total exemption from quality norms.
What the Government can do is:
1. Nagaland State should be allowed to conduct a Special Nagaland-specific TET with age relaxation and provision for local languages, as permitted under RTE Act.
2. For pre-RTE appointees, the State should be given the option of a compulsory 6-month in-service bridge course + assessment instead of competitive TET, as already provided under Section 23(2) of the RTE Act.
If we compulsorily retire all pre-2010 teachers who cannot clear TET by 2028, our remote schools will have "classrooms without teachers" - the same warning given by Tamil Nadu Government to the Supreme Court. In Nagaland, where we already have teacher shortage in remote areas, this will be a bigger crisis.
Let us not humiliate our Gurus. Let us find a middle path - quality with humanity
N.Y. Angami,
Retired educationist,
Chümoukedima.