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Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘A short-sighted approach': Parliamentary panel recommends BElEd programme's continuation
A parliamentary panel has recommended the continuation of the Bachelor of Elementary Education (BElEd) programme, a four-year course in elementary teacher education, which the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has proposed to scrap. The committee, headed by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, reviewed NCTE's functioning in its report. Earlier this year, NCTE issued draft regulations that lay down norms and standards for teacher education programmes. The draft regulations said that the BElEd programme, a four-year course introduced in 1994-95 that focused on teaching at the elementary level (classes 1 to 8), will be discontinued from 2026-27 onwards. It said institutions that were offering the programme will have to transition to the new Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) by the 2026-27 academic session. ITEP is a four-year programme (BA BEd/ BSc BEd/ BCom BEd) after Class 12, which has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. NEP calls for a four-year integrated BEd degree to be the minimum qualification for teaching by 2030. The Union Education Ministry's Department of School Education and Literacy told the committee that BElEd is a 'high faculty demand programme' because it demands 16 faculty members for a batch of 50 students. In contrast, for ITEP, the faculty requirement has been 'brought down' to nine, the Department told the committee. The department also pointed out that 'even after three decades,' BElEd remained confined to a few colleges in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. BElEd is being offered in 99 institutions, 'and it is struggling to expand', the Department told the committee, adding that a proposal for its discontinuation is under consideration, and the government is yet to take a view on the matter. The committee has recommended that NCTE address the limitations of the BElEd programme, if any, by upgrading its curriculum and encouraging more institutions to offer it. It has suggested that the NCTE leverage the 'established history and expertise' of the programme, instead of scrapping a 'reputed, well-established and internationally acclaimed programme' which has been run effectively for more than 30 years. Noting that BElEd has served as a rigorous, research-based and socially conscious route for training elementary school teachers, particularly for urban poor and rural students, the committee has recommended that states be allowed to continue offering the programme, and the faculty and infrastructure developed for it be preserved. It has also suggested the 'replication of the program in additional institutions under ITEP.' The committee has also called for a review of the draft regulations that NCTE issued earlier this year, and pointed out that the Department of School Education and Literacy should hold consultative meetings with state governments before it arrives at changes in the structure of teacher education, since education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution. 'It is also recommended to allow multiple programmes and models of teacher education and not to shut down successful existing programmes,' the committee's report noted. The committee has also called for filling vacancies for school teachers. 'The Committee observes that there are around 10 lakhs vacancies of teachers in Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funded schools in various States and there are around 7.5 lakh vacancies at elementary and primary levels,' the report stated. 'The Committee notes that there is no improvement in filling up of vacancy positions in these SSA funded schools of the State Governments in spite of repeated recommendations of the Committee…to fill up the vacancies in a time bound manner, rather it is worsening day by day due to retirements of teachers and due to absence of a permanent recruitment policy,' it added. In April this year, eminent professors of education from across the world, including Prof Michael Apple at the University of Wisconsin, Prof William Pinar at the University of British Columbia, and Prof Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, had written to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan asking that the plans to discontinue BElEd be cancelled.
Indian Express
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Don't scrap B.El.Ed Programme': International academics from Cambridge, Wisconsin appeal to Edu Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
Eminent professors of education from across the world, including Prof Michael Apple at University of Wisconsin, Prof William Pinar at the University of British Columbia, and Prof Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, have appealed to Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to cancel plans to discontinue the (Bachelor of Elementary Education) programme, a four-year degree programme in elementary teacher education. In a letter to Pradhan, they referred to the move as counter-productive. ' is a flagship teacher education programme that has endured for three decades and proved its worth. It has contributed to enhancing the status of elementary level teachers in India and to significant advances in the quality and outcomes of their teaching. We therefore appeal to you to cancel plans to discontinue the . Where innovation promises an advance on existing arrangements, it is surely to be welcomed. To discontinue a programme renowned for its excellence is therefore counter-productive,' the letter read. In February this year, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) issued draft regulations that specify norms and standards for teacher education programmes. The draft regulations said that the programme will be discontinued from 2026-27 onwards, and institutions that were granted recognition for the programme will have to move to the new Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) before the start of the 2026-27 academic session. The programme was first launched by Delhi University three decades ago. The letter to the Education Minister signed by 15 scholars of education from across the world, stated: 'We are alarmed to learn of renewed plans to abolish Delhi University's impressive Bachelor's Programme in Elementary Education ( and replace it with a uniform Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP). We urgently ask that these plans be reconsidered.' ITEP is a four-year programme (BA after class 12, which was launched in pilot mode in a few institutions from the 2023-24 academic session onwards. It will be offered as a regular programme for teacher education from the 2025-26 session onwards. It has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy 2020, which states that by 2030, 'the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated degree that teaches a range of knowledge content and pedagogy and includes strong practicum training in the form of student-teaching at local schools.' Stating that is renowned in India and abroad as an exemplary, world class teacher education programme, the scholars wrote in their letter: 'With its integration of broad-based academic instruction and pedagogical training, it offers a more advanced form of preparation for elementary school teachers than is typically available in many western countries.' Referring to the strengths of the programme, the letter added: 'Recognising schooling's vital role in preparing young people both for employment and for democratic citizenship, it endows teachers with the independence and confidence that thorough academic and professional training can provide. This distinguishes it from colonial-era programmes that deliberately sought to de-professionalise teachers and restrict their autonomy.' As India's first comprehensive university level programme for elementary school teachers, 'has also been a model for other programmes offered by prestigious private colleges of liberal arts and sciences nationwide,' the letter read. It added that the programme offers a dynamic combination of instruction in subject knowledge, educational theory, child development, psychology, sociology, philosophy, and linguistics, along with compulsory courses on story-telling, drama, gender, and inclusion. The 15 signatories of the letter including Prof Edward Vickers, UNESCO Chair on Education for Peace, Social Justice and Global Citizenship, Kyushu University, Japan; Prof Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA; Prof Paul Morris, Professor of Comparative Education, UCL Institute of Education; Prof William Pinar, Tetsuo Aoki Professor in Curriculum Studies, Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Canada; Prof Yusuf Sayeed, Professorial Chair in Global Education Policy and Equity, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK; Prof Martin Carnoy, American labour economist & Vida Jacks Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education; Prof Robin Alexander, Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and Professor of Education Emeritus, University of Warwick. Prof Michael Apple and Prof Robin Alexander have previously been members of the editorial advisory board of the NCTE's publication – Indian Journal of Teacher Education. Signatories also include Prof Ken Zeichner, Boeing Professor of Teacher Education Emeritus, University of Washington, USA; Prof Chaise LaDousa, Professor of Anthropology of Education, Hamilton College, New York; Prof Angela Little, Professor Emeritus, University College London, Institute of Education, UK; Prof Crain Arther Soudien, School of Education, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
