Teacher rule modified

Basant Kumar Mohanty, TT, Aug 05, 2018: New Delhi: Bachelor of Education degree holders can now teach primary classes under the modified rules of the National Council of Teacher Education, a move academics have described as "regressive".

The national regulator for teacher education notified its amended rules a month ago. Earlier, an aspiring primary-class teacher needed 50 per cent marks in Class XII and a Diploma in Elementary Education apart from cracking the Teacher Eligibility Test.

Those with a four-year Bachelor in Elementary Education degree too could teach at primary schools if they cleared the Teacher Eligibility Test. BEds were allowed to teach upper primary classes (VI to VIII) but not primary classes.

According to the amended rules, BEds need to do a six-month bridge course on elementary education at a recognised teacher-training institute within two years of appointment.

NCTE sources said the regulator had taken this decision on the basis of a request to the Union human resource development ministry from the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, which runs about 1,200 schools, and certain states.

These states had cited a shortage of institutions offering the Diploma in Elementary Education. For example, Uttarakhand has just seven such institutions. Most of India's 18,000 teacher-training institutes offer BEd courses.

Poonam Batra, a Delhi University professor, said: "This is not a good idea. A BEd programme does not equip candidates with the capacity, professional knowledge and skills needed to teach children in primary classes."

She argued that since primary class pupils are very young, their cognitive development is different from that of upper primary students. Their use of logic and reasoning is different from how adults think.

"The errors they make in understanding concepts in maths, science, social science or language reflect alternative frameworks of thinking rather than flawed thinking. Children cannot be reprimanded for thinking in alternative frameworks," she said.

"BEd graduates are not trained in the psychological and pedagogical theories that help understand the thinking and learning processes of young children. How will they do justice to (their job)?"

Jitendra Sharma, a retired professor from the Teacher Training College in Jodhpur, said BEds should not be allowed to teach elementary classes (Class I to VIII) because they are trained to handle only adolescent students.

"The NCTE (the regulator) has not explained its decision. My view is that it's regressive. This has been done to help BEd colleges get sustenance," Sharma said.

NCTE chairperson Anita Karwal said she was on leave. "Please contact concerned JS (joint secretary)," she wrote back. No comments could be obtained from the ministry.

An NCTE official said teacher vacancies were rising in primary schools because of a lack of qualified candidates# while there were "surplus" BEd degree holders. Over five lakh schoolteachers' posts are vacant in the states.

Batra said that if "surplus" BEds must be appointed to address the shortage of primary-level teachers, appropriate institutional mechanisms should be created first to equip them with the knowledge and skills required.The National Institute of Open Schooling has started such courses, of six months' duration, for BEd degree holders.

Some 77,000 primary schools in the country have just a single teacher each, according to provisional data for 2016-17. Madhya Pradesh had 12,171 single-teacher primary schools in 2016-17, followed by Rajasthan with 11,531.