MUMBAI, Nov. 12 -- The state government has decided against filing a review petition in the Supreme Court over its recent ruling making the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) mandatory for all teachers in government, aided and unaided schools. Instead, the school education department has written to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) and the Union Ministry of Education, urging an exemption for teachers appointed before 2013. Senior officials said the state is now relying on an amendment to the RTE Act to resolve the issue, with the matter likely to be taken up in the upcoming parliamentary session. The SC's judgement has created anxiety among nearly 1,50,000 serving teachers in Maharashtra, many of whom have more than two decades of experience and are close to retirement. The RTE Act, implemented in 2009-10, mandates minimum qualification norms for teachers under section 23. However, the law does not explicitly state whether the TET requirement applies only to teachers appointed after the Act came into force. The ambiguity has triggered protests from teachers' unions, who argue that applying the eligibility test retrospectively is impractical and unfair. The state has formally requested the Centre to clarify that only teachers appointed after 2009, or from 2013, should be required to clear the examination. "This issue affects teachers nationwide. If the Centre acts promptly, the December TET can be avoided. Otherwise, all in-service teachers will have to appear," the official said. Meanwhile, teacher organisations have announced statewide demonstrations....