JOIN USMore than 90 per cent of the BEd colleges affiliated to University of Mysore lacked “eligible” teaching personnel, said Lingaraj Gandhi, Director, College Development Council, University of Mysore (UoM).
Speaking at the Academic Council meeting of the varsity, he said that the varsity had been forced to continue affiliation to these colleges, owing to intervention from the State government. As many as 38 BEd colleges are affiliated to UoM, out of which nine are aided colleges, while the remaining are unaided institutions.
National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has strict guidelines for persons who are appointed as lecturers in BEd colleges. They should possess two master degrees, of which one should be a degree in the school subject they specialise in.
“However, a large majority of the colleges do not satisfy NCTE rules, when it comes to lecturers,” he said.
Noting these problems, affiliation was given to BEd colleges with a condition that lecturers appointed at BEd colleges, should fulfill the NCTE criteria within two years, by clearing exams such as NET or SLET. Yet, a majority of the colleges had not fulfilled the criteria, Gandhi said.
State pressure
While UoM was keen on discontinuing the recognition of these colleges, college managements had succeeded in continuing the recognition due to political interference, through the Higher Education department, he said.
Moreover, there were also legal problems, as few colleges have also approached the court, against the varsity’s proposal to discontinue affiliation. “We are caught in a fix, whether to strictly comply with NCTE guidelines, or go with the existing relaxed norms,” he said.
S Indumathi, Dean of Arts also noted that there were problems associated with attendance in the colleges.
Vice Chancellor K S Rangappa said that the issue should be taken up with the State government, to ensure quality of education at BEd colleges. “Interference from the government in such affairs cannot be entertained,” he added.