The article is an excerpt from the judgment Anjuman Ishaat E. Taleem Trust v. The State of Maharashtra and ors. (2025 SCC Online SC 1912)
57. After introduction of the RTE Act, the NCTE Act came to be amended to make it in line with Article 21A of the Constitution as well as the RTE Act. The long title of the NCTE Act was also amended to include the regulation of qualifications of school teachers.
58. Further, Section 1 was amended to include sub-section (4), which made the NCTE Act applicable to schools’ imparting pre-primary, primary, upper-primary, secondary or senior secondary schools. Section 2 was amended to include the definition of school which, among other things, included schools not receiving any aid or grants to meet whole or part of its expenses from a government or local authority.
59. The amendment that assumes primacy for the present issue was the insertion of section 12A, the marginal note of which reads, ‘Power of Council to determine minimum standards of education of school teachers’. The aforesaid section permits the Council, i.e., the NCTE, to determine the qualifications of teachers in schools, by way of regulations. The further proviso to this section provides that the minimum qualifications of a teacher must be acquired within the period specified in the NCTE Act or the RTE Act.
60. Section 23 of the RTE Act authorizes the Central Government to authorize an academic authority to lay down “minimum qualifications” for being eligible to be appointed as a teacher:
“23. Qualifications for appointment and terms and conditions of service of teachers.-(1) Any person possessing such minimum qualifications, as laid down by an academic authority, authorised by the Central Government, by notification, shall be eligible for appointment as a teacher. …”
61. In exercise of such powers, the Central Government vide Notification No. S.O. 750(E) dated 31st March, 2010 appointed NCTE as the “academic authority” to lay down the minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher.
62. Pursuant thereto, NCTE vide Notification F.No. 61-03/20/2010/NCTE/(N&S) dated 23rd August, 2010 laid down minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in classes I to VIII in a school referred to in clause (n) of Section 2 of the RTE Act(54). This is when the TET was made mandatory for the first time.
[(54) 1 Minimum Qualifications. –]
[(i) Classes I-V]
[(a) Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 50% marks and 2-year diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known)]
[OR]
[***********]
[AND]
[(b) Pass in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), to be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with the Guidelines framed by the NCTE for the purpose.]
[(ii) Classes VI-VIII]
[(a) B.A/B.SC and 2 -year Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known)]
[OR]
[****************]
[AND]
[(b) Pass in the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), to be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with the Guidelines framed by the NCTE for the purpose.]
Clause 3(55) of the notification provided for compulsory training for certain categories of teachers.
[(55) 3. Training to be undergone.- A person]
[(a) with BA/B.Sc. with at least 50% marks and B. Ed qualification shall also be eligible for appointment for class I to V up to 1st January, 2012, provided he undergoes, after appointment, an NCTE recognized 6-month special programme in Elementary Education.]
[(b) with D. Ed (Special Education) or B. Ed (Special Education) qualification shall undergo, after appointment an NCTE recognized 6-month special programme in Elementary Education.]
Clause 4(56) excluded certain categories of teachers from the requirement of attaining minimum qualifications specified in paragraph (1).
[(56) 4. Teacher appointed before the date of this Notification.- The following categories of teachers appointed for classes I to VIII prior to date of this Notification need not acquire the minimum qualifications specified in Para (1) above:]
[(a) A teacher appointed on or after the 3rd September, 2001 i.e. the date on which the NCTE (Determination of Minimum Qualifications for Recruitment of Teachers in Schools) Regulations, 2001 (as amended from time to time) came into force, in accordance with that Regulation.]
[Provided that a teacher of class I to V possessing B. Ed qualification, or a teacher possessing B. Ed (Special Education) or D. Ed (Special Education) qualification shall undergo an NCTE recognized 6 – month special programme on elementary education.]
[(b) A teacher of class I to V with B. Ed qualification who has completed a 6-month Special Basic Teacher Course (Special BTC) approved by the NCTE;]
[(c) A teacher appointed before the 3″ September 2001, in accordance with the prevalent Recruitment Rules.]
As per clause 5(57), if any advertisement for appointment of teachers had already been issued prior to the date of the notification, such appointments were to be made in accordance with the NCTE Regulations, 2001.
[(57) 5. Teacher appointed after the date of this Notification in certain cases.- Where an appropriate Government or local authority or a school has issued an advertisement to initiate the process of appointment of teachers prior to the date of this Notification, such appointments may be made in accordance with the NCTE (Determination of Minimum Qualifications for Recruitment of Teachers in Schools) Regulations, 2001 (as amended from time to time).]
63. By three subsequent notifications(58), NCTE made amendments in the notification dated 23rd August, 2010. Inter alia, certain changes were made in clause 1 (which laid down minimum qualifications for appointment) regarding the educational requirement. Without going much into the details of the amendment, suffice it is to mention that the mandatory requirement of TET remained unchanged.
[(58) dated 29th July, 2011, 28th June, 2018 and 13th November, 2019]
64. We consider it important to refer to certain parts of the notification dated 11th February, 2011 issued by NCTE vide which guidelines were issued for conducting the TET examination, highlighting the rationale for mandating the TET:
“3 The rationale for including the TET as a minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher is as under:
i. It would bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process;
ii. It would induce teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards;
iii. It would send a positive signal to all stakeholders that the Government lays special emphasis on teacher quality”
65. On 6th March, 2012, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a circular stating that all teachers hired after the date of circular, to teach classes I to VIII students in CBSE-affiliated schools must pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET).
66. On 12th November, 2014, the NCTE laid down regulations, inter alia, providing for qualifications for recruitment of teachers for imparting education from pre-primary level to the senior secondary level. It will suffice to mention that the minimum qualifications for teachers teaching primary and upper primary (classes I to VIII) were the same as provided in the notification dated 23rd August, 2010.
67. As discussed above, NCTE made the TET a mandatory requirement vide its notification dated 23rd August, 2010. Be that as it may, in the year 2017, the Parliament made an amendment(59) in Section 23 of RTE Act by introducing a proviso in section 23(2) of the Act. The proviso reads thus:
[(59) Act No. 24 of 2017]
“Provided further that every teacher appointed or in position as on the 31st March, 2015, who does not possess minimum qualifications as laid down under sub-section (1), shall acquire such minimum qualifications within a period of four years from the date of commencement of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2017.”
68. The Parliament, therefore, provided an opportunity to teachers appointed/in service, prior to 31st March, 2015 and who had not attained the minimum qualifications as prescribed (including the TET) to acquire the said qualifications within a period of four years from the date of commencement of the Amendment Act which was 1st April, 2017.
69. On 3rd August, 2017, the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education & Literacy, issued a letter to the State secretaries, reminding that the last date to acquire minimum qualifications is 1st April, 2019, and no teacher, who did not possess minimum qualifications under the RTE Act, would be permitted to continue in service beyond the given date.