HYDERABAD: From the next academic year, students who want to choose teaching as a career will have to pursue the Bachelor in Education (BEd) programme for four years, as against the two years aspirants currently spend to obtain the degree.
Though the move has drawn a mixed response from different stakeholders, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is firm on revising the programme, in order to raise the bar and produce quality teachers.
While the MHRD reportedly has given the green signal for the introduction of the integrated programme, experts feel the initial response to the course might not be great due to the length of the duration. Only three years ago, the duration of the year-long course had been increased to two years.
While there is no clarity if the current two-year long course will be replaced with the four-year long course, Vasudha Rani, lecturer at the Panineeya Mahavidyalaya College of Education suggests that for the next few years both should be run concurrently.
“No doubt, the four year course is a welcome move. But we have to bear in mind that for most students teaching is generally the last resort. And they will want to explore other options before taking the plunge into the teaching profession. So, for few years both programmes should be run,” she said.
At present the minimum qualification to apply for the current BEd programme is a bachelor’s degree in any field from a recognised university. But for the four-year integrated BA-BEd, BSc-BEd and Bcom-BEd course students can enrol in it post intermediate, thereby saving a year.
It may be recalled that one of the main reasons for the MHRD to consider revamping the course duration was to ensure that only those passionate about teaching take up the training.
“Students who might want to return to teacher training after finishing their UG degrees will then end up wasting the three years (in UG) and this might in fact act as a deterrent,” said Rani.
Need to hasten the process
Though the plan was mooted before the ongoing session commenced, it has not seen light of day till now. Colleges and teachers are worried that unless the government hastens the process the revamped teacher training might not be implemented in the next academic year too.
“There is no official word on the course yet. Colleges are totally unprepared and to be able to be ready the MHRD, NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) and the affiliated universities need to issue instructions soon,” said Sai Surpiya, a lecturer at a private college giving out Bachelors of Education degrees and is affiliated to the Osmania University in Hyderabad.
OU yet to work out modalities
While Osmania University (OU) is yet to issue any notification inviting applications from interested colleges to introduce the new course, Palamuru University, Mabhubnagar, has already inspected interested colleges and given them permission to start the course.
“OU has not worked out the modalities of the course but we will undertake the process in a month or two and ask the interested degree colleges to apply for the same. The current two-year curriculum will be stretched to four years,” said Prof A Ramakrishna, principal, University College of Education University, adding that the course is likely to start in 2019 academic year.
He also clarified that the new course will have little impact on the existing BEd colleges because they do not have the magnanimous infrastructure or the instruction facility that the integrated course required.
“But a few our our affiliated (BEd) colleges management have engineering and degree colleges under them so we have informed them that if they are interested they can apply for the course,” the principal said.
He said that initially colleges will be required to recruit only two or three faculty for the additional section offering the integrated course in the degree colleges. And by fourth year they will have a full-fledged section. OU has around 90 BEd colleges spread across Medak, Rangareddy and Hyderabad.
Course will improve quality
In united Andhra Pradesh, the BEd course was in high demand because the teacher recruitment by the government was done annually. “This has changed after 2012. There has not been recruitment and so the demand for teaching has fallen. But this has also led to a shift in the movement of teachers from government sector to private and the increased focus on recruiting only trained teachers will better the quality,” said Chava Ravi, General Secretary of Telangana State United Teachers Federation. Shaik Shabbir Ali, president of Telangana Private Teachers Forum, agreed that the integrated course will attract only those students who are passionate and committed to the teaching profession. “Those who considered teaching as the last resort will now have to think of another profession.”