{"id":6719,"date":"2026-08-09T15:10:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/?p=6719"},"modified":"2026-08-09T15:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T15:10:48","slug":"the-tet-challenge-a-defining-moment-for-teacher-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/the-tet-challenge-a-defining-moment-for-teacher-leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"The TET Challenge: A Defining Moment for Teacher Leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2712\ufe0f :. Firdous Ahmad Najar<\/em><\/strong>
Arin, Bandipora<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A humble but deeply serious appeal to all those who have, at one time or another, presented themselves as leaders and representatives of the teaching community: this is the moment when your leadership is being tested, not by the number of speeches delivered, press statements issued, photographs taken or media appearances made, but by the courage and determination with which you stand beside teachers when their professional existence, dignity, credibility and years of experience are under an unprecedented cloud because of the TET issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are times when leadership is comfortable, and there are times when leadership demands courage. The present situation belongs to the latter category. It is easy to speak for teachers when the circumstances are favourable and the stakes are low. It is considerably more difficult to stand with them when their professional future itself is being questioned. This is precisely the moment that will distinguish genuine leadership from leadership that exists merely for visibility, influence and convenience. The teaching community will ultimately be able to judge who stood with them when their existence was at stake and who preferred to remain silent, cautious or selectively active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue confronting teachers today cannot be reduced to an ordinary service demand. Transfers, promotions, allowances, seniority and other benefits undoubtedly matter, but they acquire meaning only after the fundamental question of a teacher\u2019s continued professional existence is secured. When that very foundation is under threat, shifting the focus to secondary issues means losing sight of the central challenge. Such division would only dilute the collective struggle and could be seen by teachers as a serious breach of the trust, confidence and expectations they have placed in those who claim to represent them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magnitude of the TET issue in Jammu and Kashmir also needs to be understood in its proper perspective. The circumstances here are substantially different from those in many other states of the country. According to the figures being cited by the affected teaching community, nearly 80 percent of serving teachers in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir are likely to come within the ambit of the TET requirement, while only around 15 to 20 percent, having crossed the age of 55 years, may remain outside its immediate impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation cited in respect of several other states is markedly different. According to the same assessment, around 60 percent of teachers in many states were appointed after 2010 and therefore do not fall within the TET requirement, while of the remaining 40 percent appointed before 2010, approximately half, around 20 percent of the total, have crossed the age of 55 years and consequently fall outside the category affected by the examination. This leaves approximately 20 percent of teachers directly exposed to the requirement in those states. Whether or not every state conforms precisely to these figures, the fundamental point remains clear: the proportion of teachers affected in Jammu and Kashmir is considerably larger than the proportion in many other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, expecting a decisive breakthrough from states where only a relatively small section of teachers is directly affected may not be a realistic strategy for Jammu and Kashmir. We must certainly stand in solidarity with our colleagues across the country, but we cannot afford to make our own future dependent upon a struggle whose numerical and professional dimensions are fundamentally different from ours. If nearly four out of every five teachers in Jammu and Kashmir are facing the consequences of the TET condition, then the responsibility to build an effective response rests primarily upon the teachers and leadership of Jammu and Kashmir themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What teachers require from their leaders at this juncture is not merely expressions of concern or another general assurance through press statements and media appearances that the matter is being pursued. They need a concrete roadmap. They need to know what legal avenues are being explored, what political channels are being approached, which Parliamentarians are being engaged, what constitutional remedies are available and what collective democratic course of action is being planned. Above all, they deserve clarity about the final objective and how the present struggle is intended to achieve it. The time has come to replace uncertainty and assurances with a clearly defined, purposeful and democratic strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament presents an important democratic opportunity that should not be allowed to pass without serious engagement. If the representatives and leaders of teachers can collectively persuade Parliamentarians to take up the matter and consider an appropriate amendment to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, it may provide a constitutional and parliamentary route towards addressing the issue. This requires neither confrontation nor disorder. It requires persuasion, documentation, legal reasoning, political engagement and a sustained democratic campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also an opportunity for genuine leadership to rise above organisational boundaries, personal differences and competing claims of representation, and place the collective interest of teachers above everything else. The issue is far too serious to be reduced to organisational rivalries, individual ambitions or personal visibility. At a time when a large section of the teaching community is deeply concerned about its professional future, the need of the hour is not fragmented efforts but unity of purpose, collective action and a common democratic strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a demand for favour or sympathy; it is a demand for responsible representation. Teachers are not asking their leaders merely to speak about the TET issue; they are asking them to translate their speeches and assurances into a coordinated, democratic and constitutionally legitimate course of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teaching community has contributed decades of service to the education system. Their experience cannot simply be treated as irrelevant, nor can their legitimate concerns be brushed aside as an ordinary administrative inconvenience. Whatever the eventual legal and policy outcome may be, the magnitude of the issue demands a serious political and democratic response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this decisive juncture, every leader has a choice. One can remain confined to speeches, statements and media appearances, or one can step forward and provide direction to a community that is looking towards its representatives with hope and expectation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The choice will define more than individual leaders. It will define the credibility of leadership itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And history has a simple way of judging such moments: when the existence, dignity and future of a community are at stake, it remembers those who stood up, and it also remembers those who chose to remain silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer can be reached at njfirdous090@gmail.com.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2712\ufe0f :. Firdous Ahmad NajarArin, Bandipora A humble but deeply serious appeal to all those who have, at one time or another, presented themselves as leaders and representatives of the teaching community: this is the moment when your leadership is being tested, not by the number of speeches delivered, press statements issued, photographs taken or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6720,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719\/revisions\/6720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noukeqalamnews.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}