– Mita Mukherjee

Teachers in Bengal’s state-funded schools demanded a “confirmation” from the central government about protection of jobs of senior inservice teachers after Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan “failed to give a satisfactory” reply to a query of teachers on whether the Centre would intervene in a September 2025 Supreme Court judgement that mandates all teachers appointed prior to the implementation of the RTE act to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) within two years or face removal from service.

Addressing a gathering of teachers at a programme organised by the Bengal chapter of the BJP ‘s teachers’ cell in Kolkata on Saturday, the Union minister attributed the legal disputes regarding TET to the faulty policies of the earlier government at the Centre. He promised that the Centre will solve the TET related problems faced by the teachers of Bengal if BJP comes to power in the state.

“I am aware about your problem… This crisis has arisen because of some faulty policies of the earstwhile government at the Centre. Now the matter is with the court.. But I can tell you I will take the responsibility to solve the problem if you change this government (Trinamul Congress) here in this state. I will do the needful for all the teachers here who have been affected by TET,” the minister said addressing the teachers.

Later, at a question answer session at the same event, a teacher particularly asked the Union minister what the Centre was doing to protect the job of several thousand senior teachers who were recruited before July 29, 2011 when the RTE act was implemented and whether the government has any plan to issue an ordinance to safeguard the services of those teachers, the minister said, “The problem is being looked into… There will be some solution to the problem….”

Several teachers organisations have described the minister’s statement as “irresponsible” and demanded confirmation about the government’ plans to protect the jobs of the teachers.

“We cannot believe a central minister can make such an irresponsible statement regarding such an important issue.. It seems that the minister has not understood the consequences the teachers can face after the lapse of the two-year deadline given by the top court.The future of thousands of school teachers, not just in Bengal but across the country is now uncertain. The Supreme Court passed the order in September last year. More than five months have passed. Teachers’ bodies from Bengal and all over the country have urged the Centre to take appropriate steps to protect the jobs of teachers. But nothing has been done. The Centre should immediately issue an ordinance or find out some other way to solve the problem,” Subhabrata Chakraborty, secretary of North 24 Parganas unit of All Bengal Teacher’s Association, an organisation of government school teachers affiliated with the CPI(M) told EducationWorld.

A teacher belonging to another teachers’ body wondered whether the Union minister had any “idea” about the gravity of the problem.

Several states like Bengal, Tripura, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh have filed review petitions against the Supreme Court order making TET mandatory for all inservice teachers.

Pintu Parui, joint convenor of the Bengal unit of the BJP’ teacher cell, the organisation that arranged the event said the Centre was doing the needful to ensure to protect the jobs of all teachers affected by the Supreme Court order.

“Our organisation has discussed the matter with the Union education minister in detail. He has given us the assurance to safeguard the jobs of all the affected teachers,” Parui told EducationWorld.

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