With similar concerns being flagged by multiple states, the Centre sought age-wise and appointment-year data from states to assess the scale of the retrospective mandate. (File Photo/Canva)
More than 1.1 lakh teachers aged over 50 in Maharashtra’s government and private schools will have to clear the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) by September 2027 to retain their jobs, shows data accessed by The Indian Express.
State data collated by the Maharashtra school education department for submission to the Centre shows that the Supreme Court’s September 2025 ruling, which makes TET mandatory even for many in-service teachers, affects nearly 90% of the state’s teaching workforce. In absence of any clear order in this regard from the state’s school education department; uncertainty over potential job-losses looms over the heads of lakhs of teachers.
In all, over 4.4 lakh of Maharashtra’s 4,95,437 teachers will now have to clear the TET. Of these, nearly 1.1 lakh are above 50 years of age, with about 15 years left until retirement.
Although the state’s concerns are mainly about government-run schools, where teacher employment is under its direct control, the data includes details of all in-service teachers across Maharashtra, including those working in self-financed schools. According to government officials, less than half of the total — around 1.5 lakh teachers — are from government-run schools who do not have TET qualification.
As per the Supreme Court’s ruling last year, TET is mandatory not only for new appointments but also for in-service teachers who have more than five years of service remaining. Teachers who fail to qualify within two years of the order face compulsory retirement, raising concerns about potential job losses and staffing gaps in schools already facing shortages.
With similar concerns being flagged by multiple states, the Centre sought age-wise and appointment-year data from states to assess the scale of the retrospective mandate.
The Maharashtra data shows that over 2.5 lakh teachers currently in service were appointed before 2011, the year when the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) introduced TET as a qualifying criterion for recruitment.
Story continues below this ad
Primary schools have the highest share of non-qualified teachers. In Classes 1 to 5, Maharashtra has 3,06,336 teachers, but only 22,975 have cleared TET. In other words, nearly 92% do not have the qualification.
In Classes 6 to 8, out of 1,89,101 teachers, only 26,490 are TET qualified, leaving around 86% without it.
Since the Supreme Court ruling, anxiety among in-service teachers has grown, reflected in record registrations for TET 2025.
Over 4.7 lakh candidates registered for the exam. Results declared on February 3 showed an overall pass percentage of 11.28%, a significant jump from earlier years, when the pass rate had never crossed 5% since TET began in 2013.
Story continues below this ad
To give teachers more chances before the September 2027 deadline, the state has announced that the Maharashtra State Exam Council will now conduct two TET exams every year, instead of one.
Pallavi Smart is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, Mumbai Bureau. Her reporting is singularly focused on the education sector, demonstrating exceptional Expertise and Authority across the entire spectrum of learning, from foundational schooling to advanced higher education. She is a highly Trustworthy source for policy, institutional developments, and systemic issues affecting students, teachers, and parents in Maharashtra.
Expertise
Senior Role: As a Principal Correspondent at The Indian Express, her designation reflects her seniority, specialized knowledge, and the editorial rigor applied to her reporting.
Core Authority & Specialization: Pallavi Smart is the definitive voice for Education news in the region. Her coverage scope is comprehensive:
Policy and Regulatory Changes: Reports on major shifts in educational policy, including the restructuring of entrance exams (e.g., MHT-CET adopting the JEE Main model), the draft regulatory framework for coaching classes, and revised teacher recruitment processes.
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs): Provides in-depth reporting on prestigious institutes like IIT Bombay and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences), covering institutional initiatives, administrative debates (e.g., renaming IIT Bombay), and student welfare programs (e.g., mandatory mental health courses).
Teachers and Eligibility: Covers crucial issues affecting the teaching fraternity, such as the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers and related controversies and application numbers.
Student Welfare & Rights: Focuses on issues concerning students, including the rollout of government scholarships, the financial strain on schools due to midday meal reimbursement delays, and instances of child rights violations (e.g., the Powai studio hostage crisis).
Admissions and Vacancy: Tracks the outcome of centralized admission processes (e.g., MBBS, BPharm) and analyzes vacancy concerns, providing essential data-driven insights for parents and students.
Credentials & Trustworthiness
Dedicated Beat: Her consistent focus on the "KG to PG" education beat allows her to develop unparalleled subject matter knowledge, ensuring her reports are accurate, detailed, and contextualized.
Proactive Reporting: Her articles frequently break news on policy and institutional planning, providing the public with timely, essential information about a sector that directly impacts millions of families.
She tweets @Pallavi_Smart ... Read More
