Quality primary school teachers essential for children, nation building: Supreme Court

High Court. File | Photo credit: The Hindu

The Supreme Court on Thursday (September 3, 2026) emphasized the importance of primary school teacher education, saying that the development and life of children and even the future of the nation depends on the quality of education of these educators.

“Although free and compulsory primary education for all children between the ages of 6 and 14 has now attained the status of an enforceable fundamental right, we have not given teacher training the attention it deserves… A child’s development, indeed a child’s life, is integrally linked to the role of a primary school teacher,” observed Justice PS Narasimha, Head of Division.

The Supreme Court found that there is no human resource or value greater than the development of a student’s mind and character.

“Therefore, primary school teachers have the most important role in nation-building and as such must be treated with utmost respect and care,” the court said ahead of Teachers’ Day celebrations on September 5.

The Supreme Court referred to judicial precedents that five duty bearers protect the fundamental right to primary education recognized by the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. These include the government, local authority, neighborhood school, parents/guardians and finally the teacher.

Justice Narasimha added the sixth and seventh duty bearers – Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) as defined in Section 2(a). e) of the Act on the National Council for Teacher Education, and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) itself.

“The Council is charged with the duty of achieving a planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country. The Council is also to ensure that the TEIs providing teacher education operate effectively, efficiently and conduct their affairs with integrity. We declare without hesitation that the duties of the Council and the bodies established with it,” such as the Executive Committee and the Supreme Regional Committee of Justice, perhaps the highest members of the Regional Committee of all Regional Representatives, are being observed.

For the RTE Act to work effectively, an academic authority like NCTE has to set a minimum qualification.

The judgment was challenged by the Council’s decision to require annual performance evaluation reports from TEI.

The Supreme Court upheld the Council’s move, stating that “we fail to see how a regulatory action by a statutory body, empowered to bring about planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system in the country, could be prevented from calling on the TEI to submit performance appraisal reports”.

Published – 04 Sep 2026 00:00 IST