The State government has issued an order giving eligibility to primary school teachers (PSTs) with a graduate degree, currently teaching classes 1 to 5 in government schools in Karnataka, to teach classes 6 and 7. This order will help around 40,000 PSTs across the State.
As per the Gazette Notification issued on October 16, 2025, this applies to primary school teachers, teaching from class 1 to 5, who have a degree in the required subjects and Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) certificate as prescribed in the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) guidelines.
The Karnataka Education Department Services (Department of Public Instructions) (Recruitment) (Amendment) Rules-2025 states that it will be as per the Cadre & Recruitment (C&R) rules in force for the post of Graduate Primary Teachers (GPT).
Submitting objections
The government has given 15 days to submit objections and suggestions to this notification.
To provide quality education, GPTs are being recruited across the State from the academic year of 2016-17 to teach classes 6 to 8. Before 2016-17, the government had recruited over 1.4 lakh teachers to teach classes 1 to 7. Out of these, eligible graduate teachers were promoted to the post of high school teachers.
But, after the recruitment of GPTs, the C&R rules were amended in 2016-2017 and all teachers who were recruited for classes 1 to 7 before 2017 were demoted and designated as PSTs for classes 1 to 5 only.
Among these, over 40,000 had completed graduation, but had not been promoted as GPT since 2016-17. They had been demanding to be promoted as GPTs, making appropriate changes in the C&R rules.
Objections raised
The Karnataka State Primary School Teachers’ Association, which has welcomed the government’s move, said that the government has reinstated the rule that existed before 2016-17. However, it has objected to making TET certificate mandatory.
Speaking to The Hindu, Chandrashekara Nuggali, president of the association said, “We welcome the government’s move to allow PST teachers with degrees to teach classes 6 and 7, but making TET certificate mandatory is not. Most PSTs with graduate will be deprived from the posts because they do not have TET certificate.”
What SC said
He said that as per the recent Supreme Court verdict, the government has made TET certificate mandatory for teachers recruited before 2016-17. “We have already filed a review petition in the Supreme Court against this verdict. Therefore, we will also file an objection against this Gazette Notification making TET certificate mandatory,” said Mr. Nuggali.
Published – October 18, 2025 09:53 pm IST
