Tamil Nadu’s Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) has opened applications for a second special Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) for teachers who are already working in the state’s schools. The exam will be held on 20 December 2026, and teachers can apply online on the TRB website until 19 November 2026.
For many teachers this is not optional. A Supreme Court ruling requires in-service teachers to clear TET to keep their jobs, and the state is holding separate exams for them to meet that deadline. This is the second such exam this year, after the first one in July.
Why working teachers have to take TET
In its September 2025 judgment in Anjuman Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust v. State of Maharashtra, the Supreme Court held that TET is a mandatory condition for in-service teachers to continue in service. Teachers with more than five years of service left were given time to qualify, failing which they would not be entitled to continue. The court also said that any teacher seeking promotion must qualify TET, however many years of service are left.
On 29 May 2026, the court dismissed the review petitions filed by states and teachers’ groups, but extended the deadline by a year:
“The qualification has to be obtained by 31st August, 2028 instead of 31st August, 2027, as originally directed.”
Supreme Court order, 29 May 2026
It asked states to hold TET periodically, preferably twice a year about six months apart, and said no further extension would be considered. Tamil Nadu’s government permitted TRB to hold TET for working teachers in a government order dated 13 October 2025. The first exam, notified in February, was scheduled for 4 and 5 July 2026; TRB calls the December exam the second phase (Special TNTET-2).
Who can apply
The exam is only for teachers who were appointed on or before 1 September 2025 and are still working in Tamil Nadu: Secondary Grade Teachers (SGT), Graduate Teachers (BT Assistants), Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTE), teachers in equivalent posts and special education teachers (IEDSS). It covers government, government-aided and recognised unaided private schools, including schools of other boards, whether the teacher is on time-scale, consolidated or part-time pay.
Key details
| Notification | TRB No. 02/2026, dated 26 October 2026 |
| Apply online | 27 October to 19 November 2026 |
| Edit option | 20 to 22 November 2026 |
| Paper II (BT Assistants and equivalent) | 20 December 2026, forenoon (tentative) |
| Paper I (SGT and equivalent) | 20 December 2026, afternoon (tentative) |
| Fee | Rs 600 per paper; Rs 300 for SC, SCA, ST and differently abled teachers |
| Exam | 150 multiple-choice questions, 3 hours, OMR sheet |
| Qualifying marks | 90 (60%) general; 75 (50%) BC, BCM, MBC/DNC; 60 (40%) SC, SCA, ST and differently abled |
What teachers should watch for
- Both papers are on the same day. A teacher who needs both papers will sit Paper II in the morning and Paper I in the afternoon, with a separate application and fee for each.
- The service certificate is compulsory. TRB says applications without the service certificate in its prescribed format (Annexure I of the notification) will be rejected.
- The fee is not refunded and cannot be carried over to a later exam.
The full notification, with the syllabus and qualification rules, is on the TRB website. For practice, see the Tamil Nadu TET page on AglaSem Career.
Sources: TRB Tamil Nadu Notification No. 02/2026 and press note dated 26 October 2026; Supreme Court order dated 29 May 2026 in State of U.P. v. Anjuman Ishaat-e-Taleem Trust.
