The case of making TET mandatory for teachers working in primary schools across the country has once again reached the Supreme Court. In a decision dated 1 September 2025, the court made it mandatory for teachers appointed before the implementation of RTE to pass the TET to remain in service. Now the teachers and associations of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have filed a curative petition against this decision. Earlier, the governments’ review petitions were rejected on 29 May 2026.

Pritam Singh Dhiman of Jammu-Kashmir, Meghraj Singh of Uttar Pradesh and Adijati Kalyan Tekhakar Sangh of Madhya Pradesh have filed a petition in the Supreme Court. Teachers in other states are also preparing to take the legal route.

Questions raised on the interpretation of the decision

The teachers and associations who filed the curative petition said that the two-member bench had not properly interpreted the two provisions of the RTE Act. Their contention is that teachers appointed before the implementation of the RTE Act should not be made a condition of passing the TET later to remain in the job. Now these petitions are likely to be heard in a larger bench of the Supreme Court. This may include three senior most judges along with two sitting judges. The Chief Justice is also likely to be a part of this bench.

The review petition has already been dismissed

In this matter, several state governments, including Uttar Pradesh, filed a review petition against the original decision of the Supreme Court. However, these applications were rejected on 29 May 2026. The path of curative petition has since been adopted by the teachers. The teachers’ unions are calling the matter an important issue related to service and constitutional rights and are demanding a review of the matter by a larger bench.