BEd, MEd courses at Bangalore University in new avatar

Varsity ups their duration to 2 years each

Teacher education courses at Bangalore University (BU) will be offered in a complete redesigned format from this academic year onwards.

Both the bachelors (BEd) and the masters programmes (MEd) will be of two years’ duration in accordance with regulations of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). Then there will be a new curriculum to lay emphasis on practicals. 

That’s not all. From now on, students will have the option of choosing from CBSE schools for their teaching practice (internship). Until now, the focus was on state board schools. 

The university had announced earlier that the BEd programme will be of two years’ duration beginning 2015-16. Earlier, the duration was 10 months. This week, the university also approved increasing the duration of MEd to two years. 

Prof M S Talwar, the dean of Faculty of Education at BU, told Deccan Herald that teacher education colleges would get an opportunity to adopt schools for internships. For instance, colleges could adopt Morarji Desai schools. 

Practical orientation 

The new curriculum for MEd course is ready and that for BEd would be completed soon, according to faculty members in the department. The syllabus focuses on ample practical work. Candidates pursuing masters will be required to take up eight-week internship during their course work. There will also be field work where students will be required to engage with the community. 

“For instance, they can choose to engage with the community on the Right To Education (RTE) or mental health, etc. We want to bridge the gap between the theoretical and the practical aspects of the course,” explained Prof Haseen Taj, the chairperson of the Department of Education at BU. 

As for BEd, the teaching practice will be extended to four months from the existing one month. Students will also have a compulsory language component in the curriculum as the department aims to strengthen the communication skills of the teachers-to-be. 

Admissions may fall 

An immediate fallout of the new framework will be on admissions. Since the courses will be of four years’ duration in all, fewer students may enrol in them.

“This is inevitable,” said Prof Talwar. “However, the resistance will not sustain for long. There was a need for a uniform pattern for the course across the nation. It will help in improving the overall quality of teaching. It would force some of the poor performing colleges to get their act together.”