The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to regularize teachers without K-TET (Kerala-Teacher Eligibility Test) eligibility.
Teachers appointed before September 1, 2025, who are yet to be regularised, and teachers with similar qualifications such as State Eligibility Test (SET), National Eligibility Test (NET), MEd, MPhil and PhD, will get provisional approval provided they pass the K-TET within two years, General Education Minister V Sivankutty said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The decision is subject to the decision of the Supreme Court on the review petition filed by the government in the matter.
The teachers will have to give an undertaking at the time of approval that if they fail to qualify the K-TET within the stipulated time frame, the approval of their appointment will be canceled and the benefits availed will be returned to them.
For promotion
However, the decision on the promotion of teachers will be taken after the legal opinion of the Advocate General, the minister said.
According to the Supreme Court’s September 1 judgment, teachers with less than five years of service would be allowed to continue till retirement without passing the K-TET. However, K-TET was required for promotion. Those left with more than five years of service had to clear the K-TET within two years of the decision date to remain in service. Otherwise, they could quit or be compulsorily retired with terminal benefits.
According to the data as of August 31, a total of 75,015 out of 1.46 million in-service teachers were not eligible for K-TET, the minister said at a press conference last month.
Reacting to the minister’s announcement, the Kerala Pradesh School Teachers’ Association (KPSTA) alleged that his statements were made in view of the upcoming assembly elections and lacked sincerity as the January 1 order blocking appointment and promotion of teachers in government and aided schools had not been withdrawn. Even the promotion of teachers retiring this year has been blocked.
Published – 18 Feb 2026 20:35 IST