Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 21: The Jammu & Kashmir Teachers Forum (JKTF) today held an urgent virtual meeting to discuss the recent Supreme Court judgment making Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) compulsory for in-service teachers across the country.
The meeting was chaired by State President Mohd Ashraf Sheikh and attended by senior leaders, provincial representatives, and district presidents from Jammu Division.
The leadership expressed deep concern and resentment over the retrospective implementation of this ruling. They pointed out that teachers in J&K were appointed years ago through transparent recruitment processes conducted by constitutional bodies like the Service Selection Board (SSB), at a time when the Right to Education Act (RTE) and TET requirements were not applicable in the region. Imposing TET now, after decades of service, is unjust and amounts to punishing teachers who have already dedicated their lives to education, they added.
The leadership appealed to Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, CM Omar Abdullah, Education Minister Sakina Itoo, and Chief Secretary Atal Dullu to urgently approach the Supreme Court through a review petition or any other legal remedy.
The Forum also specifically requested Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take up the matter with the Union Minister of Education and seek exemption for in-service teachers of J&K from the mandatory TET requirement.
Highlighting the socio-economic hardships faced by teachers, the Forum warned that any uncertainty or threat to their service security would push them into distress and negatively affect the education of lakhs of students across the UT.
JKTF further emphasized that unity among all teachers’ organizations is the need of the hour. A united voice, they said, is the only way to safeguard the rights of teachers.
The meeting was attended by a wide spectrum of leaders, including Rafaquit Hussain Malik, Mohd Mahroof, Mehmood ul Rayaz, Neetan Kalyan, Lokesh Sharma, Raman Sharma, Joginder Singh, Murtaza Khan, Jalil Ahmed, Sanjeet Sharma, Sadiq Poswal, Nassir Ahmed Mir, Amarjeet Singh, Gulshan Sharma, Ali Akbar, Ferdous Ahmed, Rail Singh, Nasir ul haq, Imtiyaz ul haq, Mohd Ameen, Bhupinder Singh, Ajay Sharma, Shahbaz Akbar Khan.
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