NCTE rolls back decision to withdraw recognition to 395 teachers' institutes

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, March 7

In a major development, the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE), a statutory body set up by the Centre to lay down norms and standards for various teacher education courses, has, within 15 days, rolled back its decision of withdrawing the recognition granted to all 395 Teachers Education Institutions (TEIs), including around 20 government ones, across the state for running the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.EL.Ed) course.

Colleges to get show-cause notice

The NCTE will now serve a show-cause notice to all colleges, asking these to submit their written representation within 15 days as to why action should not be initiated against them on account of its observation regarding the state government’s policy decision for discontinuing the two-year D.EL.Ed course from academic session 2023-24

The NCTE will now serve a show-cause notice to all colleges, asking these to submit their written representation within 15 days as to why action should not be initiated against them on account of its observation regarding the state government’s policy decision for discontinuing this two-year course from the academic session 2023-24, said sources.

The sources claimed that the NCTE had to roll back its decision in view of a petition filed by the Haryana Self-Financed Private Colleges Association (HSFPCA) in the Delhi High Court challenging the withdrawal of recognition claiming that the NCTE’s action was illegal and arbitrary as no notice was served on them before taking this major decision while it was a mandatory condition under the rules.

“The decision of withdrawing the recognition to all 395 TEIs, taken on February 17, was reviewed at the meeting of the Northern Regional Committee (NRC) of the NCTE held on March 2 and 3. After detailed deliberations, the NRC decided that all TEIs be given a show-cause notice under Section 17 of the NCTE Act, asking them to submit their reply within 15 days,” the sources maintained.

In November last year, the state government had decided to discontinue the D.EL.Ed course in all Block Institutes of Teachers Education (BITEs), Government Elementary Teachers Training Institutes (GETTIs) and private self-financed colleges in the state from the academic session 2023-25 in consonance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

At present, the course, with a total intake of 21,050, is being run in the TEIs across the state. The admissions were made by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Gurugram, through counselling. Around 9,000 seats remained vacant due to the poor response of the students towards the course in the current academic session that started in 2022.

RK Poonia, a senior official of the SCERT and Haryana Government’s representatives to the NCTE, confirmed that the NCTE had taken back its decision of withdrawing recognition to all TEIs running the D.EL.Ed course. “By serving notices, the NCTE has also given them an opportunity to present their views over the issue,” he added.

Meanwhile, Satish Khola, chief of the HSFPCA, said the NCTE had also issued them a show-cause notice illegally as it was given only in a situation when any institution was found violating norms.