The Centre’s proposal to increase the duration of B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) and M.Ed (Master of Education) courses from one year to two years has drawn a mixed response from States.
At a consultative meet of Vice-Chancellors hosted by the Human Resource Development Ministry here on Monday, many States expressed unwillingness to allow the teacher training programme to be handed over to universities.
A senior official of the HRD Ministry said no decision had been taken on the issues raised at the meet in which Vice-Chancellors of Central, State and private universities engaged with the University Grants Commission and the National Council for Teacher Education.
Responding to the Centre’s suggestion to increase the duration of the teacher training courses, Vice-Chancellor of SASTRA University Dr. S. Vaidhyasubramaniam said: “The decision to bring teachers’ education into the university system is welcome and will be complete only if the universities are empowered to approve courses, and the NCTE lays down the policy.”
Many States disagreed with the view that the programme should be handed over to universities, as elementary and secondary-level teacher training is conducted in association with bodies such as the SCERT and Teacher Education Institutions, and these, they feared, would become irrelevant.
