TED NewsDesk, NEW DELHI: The new National Education Policy will remove the two-year Bachelor of Education course from the next academic session. Instead, the course duration extended to 4 years with an integrated degree. It includes three years for graduation and one year for B.Ed training. In 2014, the course duration extended to two years from one year, that was in the curriculum before 2014.
As per the policy document,
“By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be 4- year integrated BEd degree. Stringent action will be taken against substandard stand-alone Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).”
According to the NEP, the new B.Ed degree will include three courses, namely, BA B.Ed, BSc B.Ed and B.Com B.Ed. In the current set up, a teaching candidate can obtain a bachelors degree from any college in India and apply for B.Ed in any government or private institution offering the degree. Under the new curriculum, an aspirant can directly apply for B.Ed after finishing their 12th Board exams.
The government states a few reasons for removing the old two- year course and introducing the integrated one:
- A four- year course would ensure the dedication of a candidate towards acquiring education, which is severely lacking in candidates under the current course structure. It adds to their overall incompetence.
- Low salary of teachers is one of the major issues leading to a considerable lack in teachers’ performance. With the new course structure, the government aims to correct the situation, making the course more professional and skillful.
- Till last year, 186,00 institutions were teaching B.Ed courses, of which almost 1000 were private ones. These private institutions are unmonitored and offer substandard education to the candidates. Out of these, only some 8,700 have submitted an affidavit stating their infrastructure status and accomplishments. Show-cause notices were sent to the rest.
Additionally, many incompetent colleges distribute fake certificates to the candidates which, in turn, deteriorates the quality of education. As recently as September 2, in a case of fake certificates, the government of Odisha sent show-cause notices to 12 teachers. According to Keonjhar District Programme Coordinator, Purna Chandra Sethi,
“We have identified 12 teachers across eight blocks here, who have furnished fake B.Ed certificates to get jobs. We have issued show-cause notices and asked the concerned officials to file FIR against them within seven days.”
In Saharanpur on August 20, NCTE found certain discrepancies in the degrees of many teachers of Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls’ Schools across the district. On December 29 of last year, the government found as many as 4,704 fake or adulterated B.Ed certificates of the teachers of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University. In Bareilly, on January 30 this year, NCTE filed 48 FIRs in different police stations of Shahjahanpur and Bareilly, against people who furnished fake certificates for teaching positions, including those of B.Ed. These are just a few examples of corruption in private and government colleges. The education system is full of many such cases of corruption that often go unnoticed.
National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE) is taking actions against B.Ed college that participate in the racket of providing fake certificates. In Coimbatore on August 14 this year, NCTE cancelled the registration of 12 private colleges. It also sent show-cause notices to 28 colleges including three government colleges, for several infringements of regulations.
To combat the fake degrees racket, the HRD Ministry launched a web portal in July 2019, where the candidates who have passed their teacher training degrees can obtain their certificates online. Earlier the verification was done manually, leaving room for a lot of black marketeering and corruption. But now, the candidates can obtain their verified certificates between 3-5 days.
The NCTE hopes this will curb the inherent corruption within the teachers’ training part of the education system, at least concerning the handling of degrees. With the rolling out of the new course structure in the coming academic year, one hopes that it would help BEd achieve the integrity and recognition it is missing.
The NCTE portal for verification of teachers’ training degrees can be accessed here.
Sources: College Dekho