Three a long time after it was first launched by Delhi College, the Nationwide Council for Trainer Schooling (NCTE) has proposed to discontinue the B.El.Ed (Bachelor of Elementary Schooling) programme, a four-year diploma programme in elementary instructor training.
The draft NCTE (Recognition Norms and Process) Laws, 2025, which had been made public for suggestions lately, mentioned that the B.El.Ed programme shall be discontinued from the 2026-27 tutorial session onwards, and no recent admissions shall be allowed to any of the prevailing establishments conducting the four-year B.El.Ed programme.
Establishments which have been granted recognition for the B.El.Ed programme “shall proceed and so they shall be allowed to enroll college students topic to the situation that they shall transit to the brand new Built-in Trainer Schooling Programme (ITEP)” earlier than the beginning of the 2026-27 tutorial session, the draft laws mentioned.
The final time that the NCTE issued laws that specified the norms and requirements for instructor training programmes was in 2014. The 2014 laws mentioned that B.El.Ed, provided as an expert diploma programme after class 12, ready academics for the elementary stage of training, which is lessons I to VIII. Whereas Delhi College launched it within the 1994-95 tutorial 12 months, the NCTE first notified laws for the B.El.Ed programme in 1999.
“This 12 months, we’ll permit admissions to the B.El.Ed programme, however from 2026 onwards, admissions won’t be allowed. We have now proposed that this programme ought to transit into ITEP. We’re bringing new programmes in mild of the Nationwide Schooling Coverage (NEP) 2020, so the previous programmes will get merged into the brand new ones,” NCTE Chairman Pankaj Arora mentioned.
ITEP, a four-year programme (BA B.Ed/ B.Sc B.Ed/ B.Com B.Ed) after class 12, which was launched in pilot mode in just a few establishments from the 2023-24 tutorial session onwards, will not be on pilot mode and shall be provided as a daily programme for instructor training from the 2025-26 session onwards, and may have 4 specialisations – Yoga, Bodily Schooling, Sanskrit Schooling, and Artwork Schooling.
In 2023, the Delhi College Tutorial Council accredited a decision to switch B.El.Ed with ITEP.
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Arora mentioned that round 90-95 establishments throughout the nation supply B.El.Ed.
The draft laws additionally present for one-year B.Ed and M.Ed programmes.
Whereas the Nationwide Testing Company (NTA) conducts the Nationwide Frequent Entrance Take a look at (NCET) for ITEP, the draft laws specify that admissions to the B.Ed and M.Ed programmes may even be via a “topic and aptitude take a look at performed by the NTA”. The laws add that “a single nationwide entrance take a look at shall be performed by NTA” for these programs.
Admissions to B.Ed and M.Ed programs in central universities are at the moment through the CUET-UG and CUET-PG, performed by the NTA.
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Arora mentioned that the modalities of the take a look at for B.Ed and M.Ed – whether or not will probably be in step with the CUET or separate assessments altogether – are but to be labored out. “It will likely be a nationwide take a look at via the NTA. For the time being, we’ve not selected the doorway process. It’s into consideration and the modalities shall be labored out quickly. Admissions below these laws will happen in 2026,” he mentioned.
ITEP is a key characteristic of the draft laws. If a better training establishment desires to supply a B.Ed course, it should both already supply ITEP or should run ITEP by 2030.
NEP 2020 states: “By 2030, the minimal diploma qualification for instructing shall be a 4-year built-in B.Ed diploma that teaches a variety of data content material and pedagogy and consists of sturdy practicum coaching within the type of student-teaching at native colleges.”
“The coverage mandate is that ITEP would be the premier programme of instructor training by 2030. So, provided that the establishment is providing ITEP, it could possibly supply different programmes of instructor training,” Arora added.
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Poonam Batra, professor of training, beforehand with Delhi College, who helped develop and co-ordinate the B.El.Ed programme for over 20 years, mentioned, “Closing down the B.El.Ed, shall be a serious disservice to the sector of instructor training within the nation. B.El.Ed is the one built-in programme that prepares academics through strong interdisciplinarity examine, equipping them to innovate in lessons on the idea of recent frontiers of data in class topics and college students’ various contexts and queries. It’s a content material and pedagogy wealthy programme, focuses on the academics’ private {and professional} growth and integrates concept and follow through 70 % practicum throughout all 4 years. A lot of its options have formed the two-year BEd.”
“Curriculum design has all the time been the prerogative of the college. With ITEP, this autonomy of the college is taken away, threatening the preparation of academics to grow to be homogenized. How then are academics anticipated to show in various lecture rooms – a actuality in India? The ITEP claims to be built-in. It’s in impact a 3+1 mannequin…three years of commencement and one 12 months of training inside a colonial body. This was what the B.El.Ed modified efficiently. Why shut it then?” she added.
