BAMU B.Ed colleges to face music for violating NCTE norms

Prachi Rege

Mumbai: Twenty-nine out of the 49 non-aided B.Ed colleges affiliated to the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (BAMU) are in deep trouble for having violated the norms set by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), New Delhi. The NCTE has issued a notice to the university to fill in the required vacancies by December 30 this year or else face music. According to NCTE norms it is mandatory for these colleges to have a permanent principal, a librarian and at least seven full time teachers for different subjects. NCTE grants non-aided colleges a year’s time to meet the necessary requirements after inception. Shockingly only 14 institutions have full-time principals, while 13 have librarians. NCTE is a statutory body, whose main objective is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country, the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher education system, and other matters related to this. While the educationists admit to the various inadequacies in their institutions, they attribute the gap to a dearth of good quality manpower and low salaries. "We don`t get many applications to fill these positions,” explains SP Zambre, Director, Board of College and University Development, BAMU. “But we will try our best to meet the NCTE`s deadline." He adds that the advertisements have been put up to fill the vacancies. “However, we haven`t received many applications until now.” "Since non-aided institutions don`t pay well, they are losing out on good quality teachers and principals," explains Prakash Gaikwad, Director of Higher Education. He adds that only two per cent of the candidates who qualify to be librarians pass the B.Ed entrance tests like the National Eligibility Test (NET) and Maharashtra State Eligibility Test for Lectureship (SET). Also, a very meagre percentage of candidates secure the performance indicator of 400 points to qualify as principals. Gaikwad says that it is the responsibility of the university to fill these vacancies as soon as possible.