Amaravati, Aug 13 (IANS) A delegation of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leaders met Union Education Minister Prahlad Joshi in New Delhi on Thursday and urged the Centre to exempt senior in‑service teachers from the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and take necessary steps, including amending the Right to Education Act.
The delegation, comprising MPs Golla Baburao, P.V. Midhun Reddy, Y.S. Avinash Reddy and Maddila Gurumoorthy, and MLCs M.V. Ramachandra Reddy, Parvatha Reddy Chandrasekhar Reddy and Kalpalatha Reddy, requested the Centre to review the Supreme Court judgment making TET qualification mandatory.
They said teachers who joined service before 2011 and completed 20 to 30 years of service should not be forced to qualify in TET at the age of 50 and above.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, the YSRCP leaders said around one lakh teachers in Andhra Pradesh and lakhs across the country were affected.
They questioned why the State government had not filed a review petition in the Supreme Court and why the NDA government had not amended Section 23 of the Right to Education Act.
The leaders said asking senior teachers to write an online examination covering all subjects was unfair and violated their basic rights. They suggested that if an examination was unavoidable, it should be conducted offline and only in the subject taught by the teacher.
They said teachers had time until August 31, 2028, to qualify, but were being unnecessarily worried about jobs and promotions. They demanded that the State Assembly pass a resolution seeking exemption.
YSRCP said it would raise the issue in Parliament, introduce a Private Member’s Bill if necessary and continue its legal and legislative fight for in‑service teachers.
Last month, former Chief Minister and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to pressure the Centre to exempt teachers appointed before 2011 from the compulsory TET rule.
The YSRCP chief highlighted the hardships faced by teachers due to the rule requiring them to clear TET. Jagan told Naidu that it was unfair for his government to ignore the hardships teachers face due to the TET rule.
–IANS
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