Hyderabad: The four-year B.Ed course being offered by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) would help in improving the quality of education, Dr K. Ramdas, general Secretary, All India Teacher Education Colleges Principals Association has said.
According to experts, the four-year is the best option, but only for students who have the passion to become teachers.
Dr Ramdas said, “The Regional Institute of Education (RIE) had a similar course but we have very few RIEs due to which it is very difficult to accommodate all the aspirants. That is why the Union human resource development ministry with their team has done a thorough study and visited the oldest European universities and observed their course and curriculum and discussed with their professors and prepared the curriculum of integrated courses.”
He said that all these days B.Ed graduates were unable to pursue higher education or jobs abroad as they didn't have a four-year integrated course which was needed abroad. “Now with this integrated course it will help B.Ed graduates to pursue higher education and work in other countries like B.Tech graduates and other professionals do,” he added.
Prof. Ghanta Ramesh, former member, if the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) said, “The problem with teacher education is that there is no coordination between the government of India, the council and the state government. If the affiliated colleges and the state government work together only then this four-year programme will be successful.”
He said the quality of education had come down because “all these days we were just blaming each other instead of working together. Similarly, even this programme can fail if there is no coordination between the concerned bodies and the state government.”
Mr N. Narayana, convener, Centre for Educational Research and Analysis, said, “I can’t expect that the four-year course would be a merit.”
“It can’t attract high scorers as it can’t project equal status to that of B.Tech and MBBS. It cannot create more demand for quality teachers as the private schools are hiring even unqualified people. The requirement of teachers in government schools is diminishing due to lack of students,” he added.
