Teachers staging a protest at the Kurnool Collectorate on Wednesday.
The Andhra Pradesh Teachers Federation (APTF) staged protests at district headquarters across the State on Wednesday, demanding the cancellation of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for in-service teachers.Addressing a protest in front of the Kurnool district Collectorate, APTF State president G. Hrudaya Raju questioned the need to make teachers with 20 to 33 years of service appear for TET again.He said it was unfair to insist that experienced in-service teachers pass an eligibility test again in the name of improving quality standards under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Referring to Section 23 (1) of the RTE Act, 2010, he urged the Centre and the State government to take steps to amend the law and exempt in-service teachers from the TET requirement.Mr. Raju said the Tamil Nadu government had already passed a resolution seeking the cancellation of TET and forwarded it to the Centre. He urged the Andhra Pradesh government to adopt a similar resolution and press for an amendment to the RTE Act in Parliament.Participating in the protest in Nellore district, APTF State general secretary S. Chiranjeevi demanded that, until TET was cancelled, the pass mark for all candidates appearing for the Special TET be fixed at 40%.He also demanded that the examination syllabus be revised so that questions were confined to the subjects actually taught by the teachers. He called for the examination to be conducted in offline mode and urged the authorities to reschedule the in-service TET to December.Mr. Chiranjeevi appealed to Education Minister Nara Lokesh to convene a special meeting with teachers’ associations to discuss the issue and find a solution. He warned that if the government failed to address their concerns, all teachers’ associations would come together and launch a joint course of action.APTF leaders said similar protests and dharnas were organised in several districts under the leadership of State sub-committee members and district presidents and general secretaries.Those who participated in the protests at different places included Upadhyaya Pragathi editor G. Satyanarayana in Machilipatnam; federation State honorary president D. Eswara Rao, former president A. Sadashiva Rao and additional secretary P. Dhanunjay Rao in Vizianagaram; IFIA national leader K. Subba Reddy in Nellore; State vice-president Chintada Dileep Kumar in Srikakulam; and State vice-president M.V. Subbaiah in Anantapur.The APTF State committee reiterated its demand that the government immediately engage with teachers’ organisations and take steps to address the concerns of in-service teachers over TET. Published - August 26, 2026 08:56 pm IST
