Discontinued in 2022, elementary edu course may be restarted

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, August 16

The admission process for the Diploma in Elementary Education course, which the state government had discontinued in 2022, may be restarted soon. The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) Haryana has moved a proposal to the Director General (Elementary Education) for approval.

The development comes after the Supreme Court had recently dismissed a special leave petition (SLP) filed by the SCERT and others against the Punjab and High Court’s verdict, which had termed the decision of discontinuing the course as ‘unsustainable’. The High Court had also set it aside in February while hearing a petition filed by the Haryana Self Finance Private Colleges Association (HSFPCA), said Satish Khola, president of the association.

He said that the state government had on November 7, 2022, decided to discontinue the course in all block institutes of teachers education, Government Elementary Teachers Training Institutes and self-financed private colleges from the academic session 2023-25 in consonance with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.

“The government’s decision was contrary to the provisions of the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) Act and the Right to Education (RTE) Act. The course is governed under the provisions of the NCTE Act 1993 hence the NCTE is the only competent body to frame an opinion as to whether the course is required to be discontinued hence we approached the High Court for justice,” claimed Khola.

He said that the SCERT had challenged the High Court’s verdict in the Supreme Court, which dismissed its SLP on August 9, forcing the SCERT to move a proposal to the Director General (Elementary Education) for approval to restart the admission process for the course.

Khola said, “The government’s decision to discontinue the course has caused huge financial losses to private colleges, as no admission was done in the previous academic session. The course was being run in 395 government and private institutions in the state with a total intake of 20,000 students when the decision came in November 2022. The SCERT makes admissions through counselling.”

He said that the state government should issue the admission schedule for the course at the earliest as the candidates were eagerly awaiting it. “As admission was not made last year, a considerable number of candidates from Haryana moved to other states to pursue the course, which is mandatory for appointment to the posts of primary teacher in government schools,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, Sunil Bajaj, Director, SCERT, told The Tribune that they had moved a proposal to initiate the admission process for the course after the Supreme Court dismissed its SLP. “We have also sent a draft of the admission schedule for approval. The Director General (Elementary Education) will take the final call on the matter,” he added.

RS Dhillon, Director General (Elementary Education), was not available for comments despite repeated phone calls.