Haryana Govt may discontinue diploma course in elementary education

Ravinder Saini

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Tribune News Service

Rohtak, September 9

The fate of 342 private colleges offering Diploma in Elementary Education (D.EL.Ed) course across the state hangs in balance with the state government contemplating to make no fresh admissions to the course from this academic session.

Course discontinued in govt colleges

• The 2-year course was discontinued over two years ago in all District Institutes for Teachers Training
• There are a total of over 21,000 seats for the course in 342 private colleges across the state, in which 3,456 teachers and 1,728 non-teaching staffers are employed
• Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gurjar said the government was contemplating over discontinuing the course
• Though the admission process for the course usually starts from July, no schedule has been released so far

No new admissions

A delegation urged the Chief Minister to initiate the admission process but he clearly said no fresh admission will be made this session. All 342 private colleges will shut down if the course is discontinued. — Satish Khola, President, Haryana self-finance private college association

The two-year course was discontinued over two years ago in all District Institutes for Teachers Training (government institutes).

Objecting to the move, college operators have demanded rolling back of the decision, stating that it would not only force Haryana candidates to pursue the course from other states but also render over 5,100 teaching and non-teaching employees of such colleges jobless.

“There are a total of over 21,000 seats for D.EL.Ed course in 342 private colleges across the state, in which as many as 3,456 teachers and 1,728 non-teaching staffers are employed. All colleges will shut down if the government discontinues the course. Generally, the admission process for the course starts from July but this year, no admission schedule has been released so far,” said Satish Khola, president, Haryana Self-Finance Private College Association.

He maintained a delegation of the association had called on Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during his visit to Rewari four days ago and urged him to direct the authorities concerned to initiate the admission process for the course but he clearly said no fresh admission would be made this session, Khola claimed.

Rishi Goyal, director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which releases the admission schedule, said they had sought guidelines from the state government about admission in the diploma course this session but no had received no response so far.

Meanwhile, Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gurjar confirmed that the government was seriously contemplating over discontinuation of the D.EL.Ed course as it was not needed in the New Education Policy. However, a final call in this respect is yet to be taken.