Patna high court stays order against Hajipur BEd institute

PATNA: The Patna High Court on Tuesday stayed the recent order of National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to derecognize BEd course of Maitreyi College of Education and Management, Hajipur (Vaishali), paving the way for the BEd aspirants to seek admissions in the coming session.

The NCTE had recently derecognized the BEd course of this institution, along with 13 other colleges, for want of some mandatory requirements. The high court rejected the NCTE order on the plea that the institution was not given an opportunity to plead its case.

Nalanda Open University, which conducted the state-level combined BEd entrance test recently, has now allowed the candidates to offer Maitreyi College as one of their choices for admission.

Meanwhile, the department of education, Patna Women’s College, which has also been derecognized by NCTE, has also gone in an appeal before the council. This college is also likely to get some relief soon, said sources.

The authorities of most of these ‘derecognized’ colleges alleged that the NCTE arbitrarily acted on flimsy grounds without providing the affected parties any chance to defend themselves. The NCTE should not have taken such hasty decision at this critical juncture when admission to the two-year BEd course is just to begin, they said. The fate of at least 1300 aspirants has been sealed due to the NCTE’s alleged high-handedness, they added.