The Maharashtra State Primary Teacher’s Committee has declared that all government and government-aided schools in the state will be closed on July 9. This decision coincides with a mass leave taken by teachers in protest against the requirements of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), the policies regarding promotion and staffing approvals, as well as their designation as booth-level officers (BLOs) for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.
The protest is supported by several teacher organizations, including the Teacher’s Union Coordination Committee, the Maharashtra TET/CTET Qualified Teacher’s Action Committee, the Maharashtra State Private School Teacher’s Association, Shaikshanik Vyaspeeth, and the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Headmasters Association, among others.
Vijay Kombe, the committee’s president, informed The Indian Express that educators from four adjacent districts are set to demonstrate at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan, while others will rally in their respective districts. He estimated that “thousands of teachers are anticipated to participate in the protest,” although he acknowledged that inclement weather might impact attendance.
The primary demand of the committee is to ease the TET requirement for teachers who began their careers prior to 2013, the year the test was instituted in the state. Following a Supreme Court ruling in 2025, TET became a compulsory requirement for all in-service teachers. Protesters are advocating for a reduction in the passing score for these teachers to 60 out of 150 marks (40 percent), or for the implementation of a “TET-equivalent eligibility test” tailored for them.
Another significant concern raised is the assignment of BLO responsibilities to teachers. In their communication, the association emphasized that the Election Commission clearly states that teachers should only be appointed as BLOs in the absence of other government employees in the village. However, locally, it appears that only primary teachers are being tasked with these duties. The additional pressure of BLO responsibilities for the SIR is leading to both mental and physical strain among teachers.
Additional demands include an immediate cessation of the staffing approval (sanchmanyata) policy and the promotion procedures initiated by the education director in Pune for the roles of extension officer (education), cluster head (kendra pramukh), and headmaster.
In response to the planned protests, Mahesh Palkar, the Director of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, has instructed divisional deputy directors and zilla parishad education officials to ensure that no schools remain closed on Thursday. He warned that any school that does not open will result in a deduction of a day’s salary from the principal, teachers, and non-teaching staff’s wages.
