The two-year Diploma in Teacher Education is seeing a declining pass percentage since the syllabus was revised, according to professors of the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET).
Delay in announcing the results is also a cause of concern. The current batch of D.T.Ed students say it is nearly eight months since they took the first-year examination, but the results are yet to be declared. What is worrying them is that nearly 70 per cent of the students who appeared for the first-year Diploma in Teacher Education examination in June 2009 failed. Over 80,000 students are enrolled in the D.T.Ed programme offered by over 700 Teacher Training Institutes (TTIs), affiliated to the Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training (DTERT).
Students appear for seven papers in the first year, and English is a subject in which a majority of them fail.
“The syllabus has to be revised depending on the changes in the education system but if the results are getting this poor, then the department has to review it,” says S. Subramanian, principal of a private TTI. He says that 40 per cent is fixed as the pass percentage in degree exam by Universities and 45 per cent in theory in B.Ed exam by Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University, but in D.T.Ed. 50 per cent is the pass mark in theory.
DTERT Director R. Elangovan says the syllabus had to be upgraded and it was done to create good teachers. He said the Directorate is planning to take a review of the results and suggest appropriate changes. The Director of Government Examinations, D.Vasundhara Devi, refused to give reasons for the delay in announcing the results. The results would be declared this month, she added.
