The Allahabad High Court has upheld the validity of a government order mandating that candidates aspiring to become assistant teachers in recognised junior high schools must hold a graduation degree and a teacher training qualification recognised by either the State Government or the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Kshitij Shailendra delivered the ruling while allowing a special appeal filed by the Uttar Pradesh Government against a single-judge order dated September 24, 2024, which had struck down Clause 4 of the government order dated September 9, 2024.
The earlier single-judge bench had allowed a writ petition filed by Yashank Khandelwal and nine others, who sought directions to allow their admission into the two-year Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) course (formerly BTC), despite not having a graduation degree. The petitioners, who had passed only the Intermediate (Class 12) examination, had challenged the government’s decision to prescribe graduation as the minimum qualification for entry into the training course.
The single judge had quashed Clause 4 of the September 9, 2024, order and directed the State to permit the petitioners to participate in the D.El.Ed. admission process.
Setting aside the single judge’s decision, the division bench examined the relevant 1981 Rules and various government orders issued since 1998. It noted that the scheme of the rules indicated a clear legislative intent to give weightage to formal teacher training and to ensure that only graduates were eligible for such courses and, subsequently, for appointment as assistant teachers in classes I to VIII.
The bench observed:
“From perusal of various rules and provisions, it appears that ‘training’ itself has been given due weightage and the intention of law is that even for a training course recognised by the Government or any qualification notified by NCTE to teach children from Class I to VIII, it is the graduates who are eligible for appointment.”
The court added that the consistent prescription of graduation as the minimum qualification in all government orders “right from 1998 till today” was in consonance with the Rules of 1981 and could not be considered arbitrary.
With these findings, the division bench allowed the State’s appeal, set aside the single judge’s order, and dismissed the writ petition filed by the respondents. The ruling effectively reaffirms that only graduates are eligible for admission into the D.El.Ed. (BTC) training course and for appointment as assistant teachers in recognised junior high schools in Uttar Pradesh.
