COIMBATORE: Even as the academic year is drawing to a close, the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) has given its nod to seven colleges to hold admissions to B.Ed courses which had been put on hold due to lack of adequate teaching staff. Faculty members, however, are skeptical of classes being held as a section of aspirants had joined private colleges.
Government and aided colleges have been given oral instructions to conduct admissions from March 8 to 10, said sources. The directions were given by a four-member sub-committee set up by the DCE which was tasked with monitoring the admission process. The single-window system, under which a rank list is issued, is not being used for the admission.
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had put admissions on hold till January and issued show-cause notices to the seven colleges — Institute of Advanced Study of Education, Lady Willingdon Institute of Advanced Study in Education, Government College of Education for Women in Coimbatore, Government Colleges of Education in Komarapalayam, Pudukottai, Orathanad, and Vellore — as they did not meet the requisite teacher-student ratio.
Following an assurance from the State Higher Education Department on conducting recruitment for around 160 vacant teaching positions, the NCTE gave the nod for admissions on March 4, according to sources.
The sub-committee also sent a list of students, who had applied for admissions last December, to the colleges. On condition of anonymity, an assistant professor at a government college of education said that a section of the students had joined other institutes. "When we called students over the phone after receiving the name list, nearly 40 out of 100 students said they had already joined private colleges, but some may discontinue and join our college in addition to the remaining 60."
With only three months to go in the current academic year, college managements doubt if the syllabi can be completed in time. The principal of a government BEd College said that at least 200 working days were required to complete the syllabus. "Regular classes for the first-year students have been allowed from Monday. But we do not have guidelines from the Higher Education Department and the Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University (TNTEU)."
Director of Collegiate Education R Poornachandran said a meeting would be held on Tuesday with senior officials of the TNTEU to discuss the teaching schedule for the BEd courses.