COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in Chennai has barred 71 BEd colleges in the state from admitting students in BEd, MEd programs during the current academic year (2020-21).
The decision was taken after the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) withdrew its approval to 58 colleges and another 13 colleges failed to apply to the TNTEU for renewing their affiliation with the university.
In a recent circular to principals of BEd colleges affiliated to the university, university Registrar (in-charge) V Balakrishnan said that the university will be responsible for students who got admission in these colleges, in violation of the NCTE and TNTEU rules.
When contacted, TNTEU register (in-charge) V Balakrishnan said: "Private colleges failed to follow NCTE norms. Consequently, NCTE has withdrawn recognition of 58 private colleges for the 2020-21 academic year. As many as 13 colleges have not applied for continuation of provisional affiliation for 2020 - 21. So the number of private colleges affiliated to the university has reduced from 698 to 627. Students should not join in these colleges and the college list has been released on the website."
Speaking the about colleges that had not renewed their affiliation he said: "In 2016, a BEd and MEd program was changed to a two-year course. Because of this, many students are not interested in joining BEd courses anymore, which is why private colleges are facing a financial burden and want to cut their losses."
Earlier, NCTE had sent a show-cause notice to seven government BEd colleges, as they did not have adequate faculty strength as per their norms.
“Higher education department has collected vacancy details to fill up these posts soon. The appointment process has been stopped temporarily due to COVID-19," Balakrishnan said.
"After the BEd course was changed as a two-year program, student admission was reduced in government colleges too from 2016. Similarly, to become a teacher in government or private schools, the candidate has to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) conducted by the state government. Now, more than 90,000 candidates who passed TET in the state are waiting for government jobs since the last five years five years," a government college faculty member said.
"TET scores are only valid for seven years and once the duration is up, one has to reappear for exams to be able to join a government job. Due to these factors, students do not come forward to join BEd courses and instead prefer appearing for TNPSC, other exams," he added.