TN considers extending validity of TET certificates by another year

According to National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) rules of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the TET certificate is valid for seven years.

In Tamil Nadu, 60,000 teaching aspirants had completed TET by 2013. Of them, more than 20,000 candidates are yet to get their appointment order to work in government schools.

But, with their TET certificates expiring this December, they will have to take the exam again to qualify as teachers especially in government and government-aided schools across the State.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that following the requests from teachers, who completed TET in 2013 and are working in private schools, the government is likely to extend the validity by one year.

“It will, however, not be extended beyond two years and therefore, teachers will have to appear for TET again,” he said adding that as per the guidelines by NCTE, candidates must renew their TET certificate every seven years, to keep themselves updated and fit for teaching.

Stating that candidates who cleared the exam will be given one more chance to appear for the exams, the official said the TET should have been conducted this June and due to the COVID-19 lockdown, exams have been postponed indefinitely. “Once normalcy is restored, the government would issue a notification to conduct the exam”, he added.

Rejecting the State government’s proposal to extend the certificate validity by just one more year, M Elangovan, State Convenor, Tamil Nadu 2013 TET Cleared Teachers Welfare Association, said, “Several teachers, who are in the waitlist, were yet to get appointment order for several years and it would be impossible for them to appear for TET once again.”

Tamil Nadu Teachers Association President P K Ilamaran said, “The State government should hold talks with the teachers and solve the issue in connection with extending the validity of the TET certificate.”