'NCTE is wrong, NIOS diploma is equal to 2-year DElEd'

Wading into the controversy over the teacher education regulator's refusal to recognise diploma awarded by the NIOS to over 12 lakh in-service school teachers, former Union minister of state for HRD Upendra Kushwaha on Wednesday asserted that the stand taken by national council for teachers education (NCTE) was “absolutely wrong”.

Rejecting the teacher education regulator's stand that diploma in elementary education (DElEd) was invalid for any fresh appointment, Kushwaha said that the Council's move is “injustice to the teachers”.

Kushwaha was the minister in-charge of school education department in the previous Narendra Modi dispensation when the NIOS diploma course was rolled out in 2017.

“The 18-month duration diploma programme, conducted by the national institute of open schooling (NIOS), was equivalent to two-year DElEd. Whatever the NCTE is saying today is absolutely wrong, “ he told DH, when contacted.

The NCTE has recently refused to recognise the NIOS' diploma course, five months after more than 12 lakh in-service teachers of the government and private schools completed it to acquire minimum qualification for teaching in elementary schools.

The council in a clarification to the Bihar government recently stated that the 18-month NIOS' diploma was not valid for fresh appointment of elementary school teachers as it was short of six-month duration.

It also advised the Bihar government to “strictly” adhere to the Council's regulations.

Initiating recruitment of elementary school teachers, the state government had sought clarification from the NCTE on receiving applications from those with NIOS diploma. Following the regulator's advice, the state government has kept all these teachers out from the race.

“In two-year DElEd programme, 6-month duration is marked for internship so that those enrolled to the programme get hands-on training in teaching. Since those enrolled to the NIOS diploma course were already teaching in schools, the duration of the programme was kept at 18-months,” Kushwaha, Bihar's Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief and former NDA ally, said.

The former Union minister demanded that the central government must intervene and save future of the lakhs of teachers who have successfully completed the NIOS course in open and distance learning mode.

The NCTE's stand on the issue has created a furor in Bihar with more than 100 teachers, who were awarded DElED by the NIOS, are sitting on fast-unto-death in Patna for the past 11 days, demanding that the council must recognise their diploma.

Last week, RJD's Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K Jha in a letter to HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank called the “derecognition” of the NIOS diploma by the NCTE as “an insensitive decision.”

He urged the HRD minister to intervene, and save the future of lakhs of teachers and their families as the Bihar government would close receiving applications for recruitment of teachers on November 9.

Over 2.63 lakh teachers from Bihar completed the course.