The education department’s decision to make BEd mandatory for appointment as Pre-University (PU) lecturers has caused apprehension especially among teachers about an imminent merger of PU with high school.

They feel the move is a first step towards scrapping a separate pre-university system. Karnataka is only one of the few states in the country where the PU system exists.

A majority of the other states and also the CBSE and ICSE affiliated schools have a high school structure that extends up to the plus two level.

While education department officials say there is no such move on the cards, the teachers and other stake holders wonder the reason behind making BEd as a pre-requisite for teaching at the PU level and foresee a merger in the near future.

In the high school plus two structure there is a requirement for post-graduate trained teachers who can teach secondary (classes VIII to X) and senior secondary (classes XI and XII). In other words, this structure requires post-graduate teachers with BEd qualification.

Two high-level committees constituted to suggest reforms in education system in the state have already recommended merge of high school with PU in their respective reports.

The first report by eminent nuclear scientist the late Dr Raja Ramana submitted in 2001 recommends a 5 (lower primary school) + 3 (higher primary) + 4 (high school) +3 (university ) education structure instead of the present 7 (primary school) + 3 (high school) + 2 (Pre-university) + 3 (university) system.

The Committee headed by former DSERT Director D Jagannatha Rao also recommended the merger of high school with PU in its Karnataka Education Perspective Plan and also suggested that BEd be made mandatory for PU teachers.

Pre-university teachers feel that Karnataka’s PU system has set a model for others to emulate and should be retained at all costs. It cannot be scrapped simply because other states are following a different system.

The teachers argue that BEd course has no relevance for pre-university. There is no prescribed content for BEd in courses like Commerce, Sociology, Logic, Statistics, Economics, Organic Chemistry and Computer Science. 
Karnataka State Government PU Colleges Teachers Association President G K Sriramu said teachers were not consulted before finalising the new rule. He said the final notification should have been issued only after discussion with educational experts and other stake holders.

When contacted, Primary and Secondary Education Secretary T M Vijaybhaskar said the new rule had been framed as per the National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) guidelines, which was mandatory for all states to follow. As per the guidelines, only those teachers who have a BEd degree are considered as ‘trained’, he said.