NCTE postpones start of 4-yr integrated teacher edu course

NCTE postpones start of 4-yr integrated teacher edu course

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:23.05.2021

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has put off by a year the plan to start a four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP). Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University (TNTEU) is among the institutes that applied to NCTE to start the course from the 2021-22 academic year.

The ITEP course seeks to integrate BEd degree with basic BA or BSc degrees that can help students wishing to pursue BEd after their bachelor degree save one year. The NCTE planned to introduce it only in state and central institutions on a pilot basis from the coming academic year.

At a recent general body meeting, the NCTE decided to postpone the start of the programme to 2022-23 due to lack of consultation among the stakeholders.

The council also approved the proposal to conduct a national level common entrance test for the ITEP course, which will be offered at multi-disciplinary colleges and universities.

“In order to maintain uniform standard for teacher education, the admission to pre-service teacher preparation programme shall be through suitable aptitude test. There shall be a National Common Entrance Test to be conducted for a 4-year integrated BEd course by NTA” the council said in its note prepared for the general body. The council gave in principle approval for conducting the common entrance test.

“It is not clear whether the students will have an exit option after three years in the proposed integrated programme. The curriculum should be designed in such a way that they would get basic degree even if they want to exit the course in three years and should be allowed to continue the final year at later stage in a different place if they want to,” said professor N Ramakrishnan, head, department of educational technology at TNTEU. He was also chairman of the board of studies for the fouryear integrated BSc BEd programme at the university.

“Unlike professional courses like MBBS or BE, BTech, students will not travel to study for a BEd degree. Most prefer to study BEd closer to their native place. So, a national level entrance test is not advisable,” he added.

The TNTEU gave permission to start four-year integrated BSc BEd and BA BEd degree programmes to private colleges in the state.

The ITEP course seeks to integrate BEd degree with basic BA or BSc degrees that can help students wishing to pursue BEd after their bachelor degree save one year. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has now decided to postpone the start of the programme to 2022-23 due to lack of consultation among stakeholders