B.Ed degree holders plan protests as SC declares them unfit for primary school jobs

NEW DELHI: After clearing Central Teachers Eligibility Test (CTET) in 2020, Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree holder Sneha Tripathi (27) has been waiting for Uttar Pradesh government to announce a teacher recruitment drive for the last three years. Now, she feels “sidelined from government teaching jobs” and “abandoned by the government and its agencies”. On August 11, the Supreme Court barred B.Ed candidates from appearing for primary school teaching jobs – for Classes 5 and below – across the country.

Tripathi, a resident of UP’s Pratapgarh district, is among lakhs of B.Ed degree holders who relied on National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)’s gazette notification dated June 28, 2018 which had allowed them to appear for teaching jobs in primary schools.

“We feel cheated by the central government and NCTE. They could not convince the Supreme Court judges that we possess all the qualities and [have] studied all the syllabus required for teaching in primary schools. We did B.Ed to remain eligible for teaching jobs in both primary and secondary level schools,” said Tripathi. “We believed in the 2018 NCTE notification as several state governments and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan (NVS) appointed primary teachers based on the same notification. When our turn is about to come, we are being punished for believing in our government."

NCTE notification and Supreme Court ruling

In June 2018, NCTE amended the 2010 regulations on minimum qualifications for recruitment of primary school teachers allowing graduates with at least 50% marks and B.Ed degrees to be considered for primary school teaching jobs provided they completed a six-month bridge course in elementary education within two years. Before this notification, only candidates with a Diploma in Elementary Education – the D.El.Ed and equivalent teaching certifications go by different names in different states – were eligible for primary school teaching jobs.

In November 2021, the Rajasthan High Court quashed the NCTE notification and held that B.Ed candidates were unqualified for the posts of primary school teachers. The decision was challenged in the Supreme Court. In its verdict in the case prominently referred to as the “B.Ed vs BTC (Basic Training Certificate)” on August 11, Supreme court struck down the NCTE decision to include BEd as a qualification for primary school teachers as it was "arbitrary, unreasonable and in fact has no nexus with the object sought to be achieved by the Act i.e. Right to Education Act, which is to give to children not only free and compulsory but also ‘quality’ education”.

The decision of the court has come at a time when states like Jharkhand and Haryana have stopped enrollment in the two-year Diploma in Elementary Education (D.EI.Ed) course. Delhi University (DU) has also replaced the university’s Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed) with the four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

By 2030, the minimum educational qualification for teachers will be a four-year integrated B.Ed degree, states NEP 2020. In March this year, NCTE launched four-year ITEP in 57 institutions across the country. National Testing Agency (NTA) conducted the National Common Entrance Test [NCET] 2023 on August 9 for selecting around 16,000 candidates for admission to ITEP course in IITs, NITs, central and state universities etc.

“NCTE and central government’s lawyers could not convince the court that BEd degree holders should be eligible for primary school teachers jobs even at a time when more and more state governments are opting for B.Ed degree for appointing teachers. After 2030, only four-year ITEP degree holders will be eligible for teaching jobs. We are out of primary school teachers' jobs and governments hardly notify vacancies for classes 6 to 12. It seems our career has been destroyed deliberately by government agencies,” said Akash Singh from Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district who completed his B.Ed degree in 2022 and cleared CTET in 2023.

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‘Justice for B.Ed students’

Demanding “justice for B.Ed students” , government school teacher job aspirants in several parts of the country are organising protests and submitting memoranda to district-level government officials and public representatives to demand an ordinance by central government to nullify SC verdict. They are also organising Twitter campaigns to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring justice to them by making them eligible for primary teacher post.

With the SC verdict, B.Ed degree holders across the country are worried about their future prospects as most state governments advertise vacancies mainly for primary school teachers.

B.Ed Vs BTC case

The case which is better known as “BTC vs B.Ed” originated when the Rajasthan government excluded B.Ed degree holders from applying for the Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (RTET) 2021 despite the NCTE 2018 notification. B.Ed degree holders challenged this decision of the government before the Rajasthan High Court. The D.El.Ed candidates, on the other side of the fight, protested against the NCTE move to include B.Ed graduates in primary teacher jobs. The Rajasthan High Court in November 2021 had quashed the 2018 NCTE notification.

The matter reached the Supreme Court. A Supreme court bench comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia on August 11 held that B.Ed degree holders did not pass the basic pedagogical threshold required for teaching primary classes and hence they would be unable to provide 'quality' education to primary school students.

The bench referred to the Right to Education Act reminding that it guarantees quality as well. "The value of primary education can never be overstated," the court said.

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B.Ed and D.El.Ed: The other view

The B.Ed, like the LLB, is a two-year undergraduate professional course that can be pursued only after completion of a bachelor's degree. The D.El.Ed is a two-year diploma programme which is also known as BTC in several states including Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It can be pursued either after Class 12 or after graduation.

According to data in the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) reports, there has been 54.1% growth in enrolment of Diploma in Education (D.Ed) course and 73% in B.Ed course in five years between 2016 and 2021.

After clearing CTET or state TETs, D.El.Ed candidates are eligible for Primary Teachers (PRT) posts for Classes 1 to 5 and B.Ed candidates are eligible for Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) posts for Classes 6 to 10. A candidate possessing a BEd degree and a postgraduate degree is eligible for Postgraduate Teacher (PGT) post and can teach students of Classes 11 and 12 after clearing CTET or state level TET exams.

D.El.Ed holder Varun Kumar from UP’s Prayagraj said, “A D.El.Ed candidate is eligible for primary level teaching posts only. On the other hand, a B.Ed degree holder can apply for teaching posts from Classes 6 to 12. Instead of fighting to snatch our jobs, they should be demanding the government to advertise vacancies for them and get the jobs.”

Also Read | Over 51,000 primary teacher posts vacant in UP government schools; no new recruitment, says minister

Shivani Dwivedi from Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao cleared CTET in 2022 after completing B.Ed between 2018 and 2020. Responding to D.El.Ed candidates' allegations of snatching jobs, she said, “As per 2018 gazette of NCTE, we were eligible for primary to secondary classes and several recruitment processes have been completed in line with the said gazette. Students did both B.Ed and D.El.Ed courses in line with government’s guidelines and regulations of educational agencies. The fight is not about B.Ed vs BTC. The fight is about forcing the government to provide jobs to us if we did our courses in accordance with their guidelines and regulations. The governments do not want to give jobs but want us to fight among each other.”

BEd students holding protest against SC order in UP's Bareilly. (Image: Special Arrangement)

Shikhar Patel from UP’s Fatehpur completed B.Ed and cleared CTET in 2021 said: “I could have done D.El.Ed but I did B.Ed because of the NCTE gazette. Nearly 90% of the vacant posts are in primary-level schools and now we are thrown out of the race for these jobs. I had filled in the application form for the TGT recruitment exam in UP but there is no information when the government will conduct this exam.”

SC verdict’s fallout and impact

The impact of the SC verdict can already be seen across states.

On August 14, West Bengal directed the chairpersons of primary school councils of the state to inform the department about the number of teachers who have B.Ed degree but did not complete the bridge course.

The 69,000 B.Ed candidates appointed through the Uttar Pradesh teachers recruitment drive in 2018 have written to the state’s education department to arrange for their bridge course.

Meanwhile, the KVS is yet to announce the results of KVS PRT exam on its official website at kvsangathan.nic.in. The exam was held for 6,414 posts in February 2023. Several B.Ed candidates had also applied.

“We were fearing that the SC verdict in the B.Ed vs BTC case will have an impact on our KVS PRT exam results. It has been five months since the PRT exam was conducted by KVS and they are yet to announce the results. I think they are waiting for the SC verdict and will now make B.Ed degree holders like me ineligible for PRT posts even if we clear the exams,” said Priya Kumari from Delhi.

Meanwhile in Bihar, B.Ed candidates are confused about their prospects in the ongoing process of Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) teachers recruitment drive.

Ankit Yadav, a BPSC teaching job aspirant from Ara city of Bihar’s Bhojpur district said, “Most of the job aspirants are B.Ed degree holders and most of the vacancies in Bihar government schools are in primary Classes 1 to 5. With each passing day we are anxious about the future because even after clearing the exam, there is no clarity whether I will be getting the job or not.”

Another BPSC teaching job aspirant Tejesh Pandey from Bihar’s Patna said that B.Ed degree holders like him have three fears.

“On what basis will the BPSC declare our results if we sit for the exam ? On the basis of which guidelines they will be giving us recruitment letters even if BPSC publishes our results ? If BPSC recruits us as teachers for Classes 1 to 5, several D.El.Ed candidates will go to court alleging that we have snatched their jobs illegally and BPSC did not follow SC order. What will happen then? Government should keep us informed about its decision,” Pandey said.

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Meanwhile BPSC chairman Atul Prasad has said that as of now, there is neither any stay on Teachers Recruitment Exam (TRE) nor any plan to stay it. “Holding TRE on time and disqualification of some candidates are two different things. While the former is so far unaffected by the recent order of the SC, the same can't be said for the latter. Candidates should be realistic in making assumptions in their best interest,” Prasad said in a tweet. Commission has issued the BPSC admit card for the school teacher exam 2023 on its official website, bpsc.bih.nic.in. The BPSC teacher exam dates are August 24, 25, and 26.

Rahul Vidyarthi, president of B.Ed Chhatra Sangharsh Morcha (BCSM) an umbrella organisation raising concerns of B.Ed students of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan said the Supreme Court in its verdict has said that BEd candidates do not have the knowledge required to teach primary classes students. “But most of our syllabus is similar to D.El.Ed and it is wrong and misleading to say that we don’t understand child psychology and development. Most of the core questions in the CTET exam are from pedagogy and child psychology,” he added.

Senior Advocate Ashok Agarwal said the decision of the court is applicable from the date of the decision. “The court has nowhere said in its order that the teachers appointed earlier on the basis of the gazette of NCTE is illegal. The SC judgment on B.Ed qualification for teaching posts will have no effect on the recruitments already having taken place in the past. In the ongoing recruitment process, the recruitment agencies of state governments will be issuing corrigendums to inform the job aspirants that B.Ed qualification will not be considered for recruitment of teachers in primary classes,” he said.

NCTE chairperson Yogesh Singh did not respond to calls or texts.