Modi govt makes B.Ed colleges more accountable, those flouting norms to lose recognition

New rules mandate that the institutes share their annual performance reports and financial audits with the govt, failing which they will lose recognition.

Government has revised rules under the NCTE Act that governs all colleges allotting a B.Ed degree | Representational image | Wikicommons

New Delhi: The Modi government has come up with stricter norms for B.Ed colleges in a bid to ensure better quality of teacher training institutions in the country.

According to the new rules, released through a public notice Monday, all colleges will be examined periodically and will have to submit an annual performance appraisal report to the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The report has to be mandatorily filed with the government, failing which an institution will face de-recognition.

The colleges will also have to submit an account of their annual financial statements audited by a chartered accountant. The government hopes that the stricter norms will weed out fly-by-night operators in the sector.

The government has revised its rules under the NCTE Act that governs all colleges allotting a B.Ed degree. The move comes after the Ministry of Human Resource Development received a number of complaints about fake B.Ed degrees from unrecognised colleges.

New rules after earlier effort ran into legal trouble

The new rules also come after an earlier effort to clamp down on illegal colleges ran into legal trouble.

The government had in 2017 asked the B.Ed colleges to send affidavits regarding their performance apart from financial audits. Only 11,474 institutions had submitted affidavits with the HRD ministry at the time. According to a government estimate, as of 2017, almost a fourth of the 18,000 B.Ed colleges were fake.

The institutes that failed to do so were sent closure and de-recognition notices. A number of them, however, took the government to court. As many as 270 court cases were filed by these institutions against the government, which stalled the efforts to clean up the B.Ed college sector.

“The new NCTE rules are part of our effort to make sure that B.Ed colleges are not operating like shops fly-by-night operators,” said a senior ministry official. “They will have to be accountable for what they are doing.”

The NCTE released a public notice regarding the new rules Monday. According to the notice, the technical body has amended Section 17 (1) of the NCTE Act. “Where the regional committee, on its own motion or any representation received from any person, satisfied that the recognised institution has contravened any of the provisions of this act, or rules or regulations…it may withdraw recognition of such recognised institutions, for reasons to be recorded in writing,” the notice reads.