NCTE plays spoilsport in NEP-2020 implementation

HYDERABAD: The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) seems resisting the new changes at a time when the Centre is trying to remove as many barriers as possible to give effect to the New Education Policy-2020.

It may be mentioned here that the NEP-2020 is pegged to transform the current British-oriented education system into a student-centric system, giving freedom for the students to pursue interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary courses in turn to make them innovative and creative.

However, the NCTE remained stuck in rigid norms denying opportunities to students who have earned their undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in professional courses.

According to the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) sources, they have to follow the norms of the NCTE for admission into the two-year Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) course.

Following the norms, the TSCHE cannot allow candidates possessing MBBS, B Sc (Agriculture), Bachelor of Veterinary Sciences (BVSC), Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management (BHTM), Bachelor of Pharmacy (B Pharma) and other professional and job-oriented degree courses.

Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the Education department said, "Post-graduates with LLM qualification were allowed to teach legal studies at Class X and Class XI and XII in the schools affiliated to the Central Board of Second Education (CBSE)." Given the syllabus of BA political science/public administration, an LLB graduate with B Ed can bring more value addition to the students studying the subject.

Similarly, the NEP-2020 prescribes more verticals spanning health, agriculture, rural development, culture and heritage and others. For this, students from the professional courses with a B Ed degree have a good fitment to teach.

Many candidates with professional qualifications may not prefer to go to school and teach. But, barring them from pursuing the B Ed course would completely amount to banning even those who want to take up the profession to teach at schools.

When asked TSCHE Chairman Prof R Limbadri, he said the restriction on professionally-qualified candidates was as per the NCTE norms. But, "We hope some of these restrictions might go away in near future. Telangana has already introduced a mix and match of social sciences with sciences and humanities. We have allowed students to pursue Physics, Mathematics, Economics, Journalism, Psychology, Political Science etc, to choose across the disciplines. This flexibility would grow further in next few years," he added.