No entrance test to be held for BEd courses this year

As this year PU is the coordinator for BEd centralised admissions in Chandigarh and Punjab,the decision has been taken by the authorities after having a series of meetings and taking a consensus from the colleges involved. The 197 colleges are affiliated to PU,Guru Nanak Dev University,Amritsar,and Punjabi University,Patiala.

“The decision to conduct BEd admissions on merit basis has been taken from our end. As the entrance test procedure would be long and since there is no demand for it,the authorities after consultations have decided to do away with the entrance test. Since UT colleges too are involved,we would require approval from the UT Administration as well,” said one of the University’s senior officials.

Admissions for the course,being offered for more than six decades now in Chandigarh,have been conducted through entrance examinations since 1997 on Central guidelines and after the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE) came into existence. Before issuing a notification,the University would have to get approval from the UT Director Higher Education (DHE).

When contacted by Newsline,DHE Ajoy Sharma said,“Though the file is yet to be received for approval,we do not see any reason to object to the University’s decision of not conducting an entrance test for BEd admissions. We are only concerned that there should be an objective criteria for admissions.”

At present,the city offers a total of 1,300 seats for this course,with two colleges affiliated to PU offering 500 seats for the two-year BEd regular course – 200 at Deva Samaj College of Education,Sector 36,and 300 at Government College of Education,Sector 20. This is also offered as a correspondence course by PU,for which admissions used to be conducted through an entrance exam as well.

There are a total of 800 seats at the University School of Open Learning (USOL). Till last year,an entrance test was the criterion of admission. This year the ‘no entrance test’ decision would be applicable for these 800 seats as well.

The advertisement for the BEd correspondence course would be released around June 25 while the counselling will be conducted on August 24,25 and 26. The final dates of release of the advertisement,along with admission and counselling dates,is however yet to be decided.

More than 170 colleges added in just 2 years

Till 2004 there were only around 25 colleges in the UT and Punjab. From 2005 to 2007 the number reached around 197. The former Education Faculty Dean,Prof Satinder Dhillonm said,“With such a mushrooming,the infrastructure and faculty are neglected and are the least priority of the managements running these institutes. Some stringent checks should be put on their running conditions.”

Many seats were vacant last year

Despite the huge demand for this course,many seats remained vacant last year,especially in colleges in the remote areas of Punjab. Several BEd colleges had mushroomed in the state,resulting in a glut. Thus,the seats in ‘not so good’ colleges in remote areas had to fill their seats after seeking permission from the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Even in the middle of the academic session the colleges,after being granted permission from the High Court,kept on taking students who had appeared in the entrance examination.