The Hindu : `NCTE told to sanction only 75 B.Ed colleges'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

`NCTE told to sanction only 75 B.Ed colleges'

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI MARCH 24. Though the State Government has issued no objection certificates for starting 291 self-financing B.Ed colleges, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has been recommended by the Government to sanction only 75 self-financing B.Ed colleges for 2003-04, according to an affidavit filed by the Government before the Kerala High Court.

The affidavit was filed in response to a batch of writ petitions challenging the Government decision to issue NOCs for starting 291 B.Ed colleges. The court had earlier restrained the new self-financing B.Ed colleges from inviting applications for admitting students and from appointing staff in these institutions until further orders.

It had also prohibited the NCTE from granting final approval to 291 colleges who had been given NOCs.

The affidavit said that in order to overcome the dearth of teachers who have passed the National Eligibility Test, the Government was exploring the possibilities of conducting a State-level eligibility test for teachers as was being done in other States.

In fact, the Director of Collegiate Education was directed to evolve a specific proposal in this regard for submitting before the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Government would take a decision in this regard very soon.

It has been pointed out in the affidavit that in fact, the Government had received 237 applications for starting B.Ed colleges in 2001. However, they could not be processed before December 31, 2001 and applications were considered for granting NOCs by December 2002. The Government had received 54 valid applications for starting colleges during 2003-04. Thus, there were altogether 291 applications seeking NOC for starting self-financing B.Ed colleges.

Besides, an expert committee to look into the issue was constituted on June 3, 2002 and the Government received its report on October 25, 2002. The NOCs were issued on the basis of the report of the committee.

In fact, the Government had recommended to the NCTE to sanction only 75 colleges in various districts, considering the backwardness of the area and the people of the district.

. The number of colleges recommended by the expert committee include - in Thiruvananthapuram - 8 colleges, Alappuzha - 4, Pathanamthitta - 2, Kollam - 6, Kottayam -2, Idukki -2, Ernakulam - 6, Thrissur - 7, Palakkad -8, Malappuram - 11, Kozhikode - 7, Wayanad - 2, Kannur - 6, and Kasaragod - 4.

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