Kerala grants temporary pay scale to 20,000 teachers after K-TET Verdict

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has decided to grant temporary pay-scale approval to nearly 20,000 teachers affected by a recent Supreme Court verdict mandating K-TET qualification, Minister V Sivankutty said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Sivankutty said that under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, passing the Kerala Teacher Eligibility Test (K-TET) is mandatory for teachers. However, the state had earlier exempted those appointed before 2012, citing concerns that sudden enforcement would adversely affect them.

On September 1, 2025, the Supreme Court of India struck down the exemption and directed that teachers without K-TET qualification be removed from service, he said. The state general education minister said the verdict impacted nearly 20,000 teachers and their families. "While implementing the court order, the government has found a way to protect teachers," he added. As per the apex court's ruling, teachers have been given two years to clear the K-TET examination.

Sivankutty said requiring them to work without pay during this period would be unjust. Accordingly, the government has decided to grant temporary pay-scale approval to teachers appointed before September 1, 2025, on the condition that they clear K-TET within two years.

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The benefit will also extend to those holding equivalent qualifications such as NET, SET, M Phil and Ph D, he said. A decision on promotions for such teachers will be taken after seeking legal advice from the Advocate General, he added. In a related development, the minister said the government has decided to revisit staff fixation in schools where discrepancies in Aadhaar-linked student data had led to the loss of teaching posts.

He said Aadhaar had been made mandatory to ensure accurate student enrolment data. However, minor errors in Aadhaar details or delays in issuance had resulted in some students not being counted, leading to a reduction in posts and job losses for teachers. "Not a single teacher should lose their job due to lack of Aadhaar," the minister said.

The government has now ordered re-fixation of posts by including students who had applied for Aadhaar (with EID) or sought correction of errors up to July 14, 2025. The move is expected to facilitate the reinstatement of several teachers who lost their jobs due to technical discrepancies, he added.