APUTF ends Teachers’ Day-week hunger strike after Naidu says government must help every TET aspirant pass

The Andhra Pradesh United Teachers Federation ended its indefinite hunger strike on 5 September 2026 after an assurance from Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The federation had launched the fast on Friday, demanding that in-service teachers be exempted from the mandatory Teacher Eligibility Test requirement. The end of the strike is a fresh event and uses a fresh cutting id; it is not a reuse of the previous day’s strike-launch card.

In a statement, APUTF State president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said the Chief Minister assured that it was the government’s responsibility to ensure that all teachers appearing for the TET were able to pass the examination. Following that assurance, APJAC Chairman A. Vidyasagar, former MLC K.S. Lakshmana Rao, and Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association State Secretary D.V. Ramana offered lemon juice to the fasting teachers, bringing the hunger strike to an end.

Later, UTF leaders said it was unfortunate that teachers were being subjected to anxiety and uncertainty on Teachers’ Day. They said the government should also address concerns about the restructuring and rationalisation process, fill vacant teaching posts, and provide the required number of teachers in schools. Federation representatives said relevant provisions and guidelines should be implemented properly so that students and teachers do not suffer because of administrative decisions.

The political reading is careful. An assurance that the government will help teachers pass TET is not the same thing as a locked exemption from TET. The federation’s original demand was exemption for in-service teachers; the locked public close is an assurance about enabling every appearing teacher to pass, plus a ceremonial end to the fast. This cutting does not invent a government order cancelling TET for in-service staff, a new Special TET schedule, or a Cabinet note. Those are not in the 5 September record used here.

For readers who followed yesterday’s Investigate-adjacent labour card on the same federation, today’s Political card is the off-ramp: Dharna Chowk, lemon juice, named intermediaries, and a Chief Minister-linked assurance on Teachers’ Day week. Hold the distinction between demand and assurance; hold the names; refuse invented gazette text.

Labour politics around TET will not end with lemon juice. In-service teachers still face an examination framework the federation wanted waived; the Chief Minister’s locked assurance is about enabling passes, not about deleting the requirement. Watch for a follow-up government order, a Special TET design, or renewed protest if teachers conclude the assurance is only rhetorical. Until then, the Political card of 5 September is the strike’s end, the named intermediaries, and the Naidu-linked assurance on Teachers’ Day week — recorded without inventing exemption language.