DU to do away with B.El.Ed for new programme, teachers ask why

The new four-year course, called the Integrated Teacher’s Education Programme (ITEP), will offer B.A.B.Ed./ B.Sc.B. Ed. and B.Com and will begin from July. It will prepare teachers in accordance with the new school structure laid out in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 — Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary (5+3+3+4).

Speaking to The Indian Express, DU Registrar Vikas Gupta said, “We will be scrapping B.El.Ed and bringing in ITEP. For this year, we will run both programmes parallelly… Both can’t run together because teachers are limited; we are not getting new teachers from the government. We are looking at starting ITEP this July and if there is a positive response, B.El.Ed will be automatically scrapped.”

He added that four colleges have applied and three of them — Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College, Jesus and Mary College and Mata Sundri College — will start the new course this year after getting approval from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

On the rationale behind the move, Gupta said: “Every course has its durability. For instance, now that NEP has come into effect, the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) has automatically ended… Existing teachers are qualified, they will teach the new course. Colleges have provided a list of teachers, post which the NCTE has given its approval.”

In a meeting held by the Department of Elementary Education last week, faculty members appealed to the university and the governing body to revise the move. While agreeing with the proposal of initiating ITEP in light of wider changes in teacher education, in accordance with the NEP, teachers said it should not be a replacement.

“… faculty members unanimously decided to continue with the B.El.Ed programme. Any new course should come as an addition to the present programme and not a replacement,” minutes of meetings accessed by The Indian Express stated.

Teachers and educationists The Indian Express spoke to called the ITEP a “pedagogically and academically flawed programme”.

“What is the rationale of removing one course to start another? B.EL.Ed is the first and the only professional degree programme that prepares teachers for elementary classes (I-VIII), mandated under the Right to Education Act. It… weaves together general and professional education. ITEP, on the other hand, is designed as a 3+1 programme, where 3 years is focused on general education and one year for professional training,” said Poonam Batra, a retired professor of education at DU who also co-created the (B.EL.Ed) framework.

“Imposition of ITEP goes against university statutes that protects university’s autonomy to design curricula,” she added.

A flagship programme of NCTE under NEP, the ITEP was launched in 57 teacher education institutions from 2023-24.

As per a PIB statement, “this integrated course will benefit students since they will save one year by finishing the course in 4 years rather than the customary 5 years required by the present B.Ed. plan.”