The Madurai Bench of the Madras HC has dismissed a plea to include BCom, B.Ed, category in the Tamil Nadu Teachers Eligibility Test (TNTET) conducted by the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB).
In her petition, M Rajalakshmi sought a direction to the TRBT to modify its May 22 notification and conduct the TET for candidates who have passed BCom with B.Ed degree. She submitted that as per the National Council for Teacher Education’s (NCTE) directive Governments have to conduct TET for aspiring school teachers who have completed BA/BSc/BCom with B.Ed to handling classes for students studying in Std VI to VIII.
Dismissing the petition, Justice Manikumar said that the prescription of eligibility qualification and experience is left to the Government or the employer.
“Though the BCom qualification is included in the NCTE Notification, it does not prohibit the Government from restricting candidates to take up the TET. The TRB is the nodal agency for conducting the TET and recruitment of teachers, is done as per the GO (Ms) No.181, School Education (C2) Department, dated 15.11.2011,” the judge said. “Merely because the petitioner had been permitted to take up TET on the previous occasion, with BCom qualification, it cannot be said that the government have no authority to exclude the said subject from the purview of TET,” Justice Manikumar held.