Nagpur: The National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE), the apex body governing teachers education across the country, has introduced a drastic change in minimum qualification for schoolteachers which is likely to impact Diploma in Education (DEd) course.
As per NCTE’s latest amendment to its 2010 notification, the regulator has added graduation with minimum 50% and Bachelor in Education (BEd) as an option for candidates applying for employment in primary schools.
So far, candidates only needed HSC and DEd to teach from Std I to V. The move is likely to spell doom for DEd as BEd would make the candidates eligible for teaching jobs for Std I to XII.
The importance of DEd holders is diminishing since 2009 when RTE Act was implemented in the country. The Act had changed the equation of lower primary and primary as the section was extended till Std VIII. This had opened doors of primary teaching jobs for
BEd holders right from Std VI. Now, the scope has been extended to Std I, provided the candidates undergoes six-month bridge course.
Also, BEd course is getting popular with management, law, engineering, medical, I-T, agriculture degree holders as they have been made eligible for pursuing it.
The NCTE move has evoked a mixed response from both DEd and BEd teachers. DEd teachers sounded unhappy with decision and feel that the government must rethink over it.
Pallavi College of Diploma in Education professor Prafulla Nande said it seems the NCTE wants to scrap DEd courses. “The importance of DEd will be diluted. It is unjust to those who have done DEd. Having BEd holders as primary teachers won’t be of much help to education as a whole either. The syllabi of DEd and BEd is quite different. The diploma lays importance on primary students while the degree course is designed keeping high school students in mind,” Nande said.
He said DEd holders are well-equipped to handle and teach primary students. “BEd holders can’t do justice to Std 1 to V teaching,” he said.
Nande added the schools will certainly go to BEd candidates now and there will gradually be no takers for DEd.
On the other hand, assistant professor Dipendra Bendre of Priyadarshini College of Education believes that the decision will have create jobs. “This decision improves the chances of BEd trainees getting recruited in schools. They now have scope from Std I to XII,” he said.
Echoing Nande’s views, Bendre cautioned that the syllabus must be modified to meet the new challenges.
“The universities must add the portion related to primary school education in BEd,” Bendre said.
