Andhra Pradesh former Chief Minister and YSRCP president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to press the Centre to exempt teachers appointed before 2011 from the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), arguing that the existing rules were causing hardship to more than one lakh teachers in the State.

In a post on X addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. Jagan said it was unfair to require teachers who had been in service for 20 to 25 years, including subject teachers appointed before the introduction of TET, to now clear the examination with a minimum of 60% marks.

He pointed out that TET was introduced after the implementation of the Right to Education Act in 2011 and questioned why it was being made mandatory for teachers who had secured their appointments by clearing the competitive recruitment examinations prescribed before the law came into force.

Mr. Jagan said the demand for exemption was justified, as TET was not in force when these teachers were recruited. Imposing the requirement retrospectively, he argued, was unreasonable because they had already qualified through the recruitment process applicable at the time.

The YSRCP president alleged that the rule was affecting teachers’ promotional prospects, creating uncertainty over their job security and causing severe mental stress.

Criticising the State government, Mr. Jagan said Mr. Naidu had failed to address the concerns of the teaching community and had not taken steps to pass a resolution in the Assembly seeking an amendment to the law before forwarding it to the Centre.

He urged the Andhra Pradesh government to press the Union government to grant a one-time exemption from TET to all teachers who entered service before 2011, reiterating that they had secured their appointments after clearing the competitive recruitment examinations in force at the time.