BEd degree holders not eligible for appointment as primary school teachers: Patna HC

PATNA: The Patna High Court has ruled that BEd degree holders cannot be considered eligible for appointment as primary school teachers in the state.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Rajiv Roy said that candidates with Diploma in Elementary Education are eligible for primary school teaching jobs.

“The writ petitions are allowed with the finding that the notification dated June 28, 2018, issued by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) is no longer applicable, and the BEd candidates cannot be considered eligible for appointment as primary school teachers.

“It goes without saying that the appointments made will have to be reworked,” the bench observed, while hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to the appointments of primary teachers in 2021 and 2022.

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The Supreme Court had recently said in an order that only diploma holders in elementary education can be appointed as primary school teachers, observing that BEd degree-holders are not trained to have the pedagogical skills to handle kids.

The apex court had quashed the 2018 notification of the NCTE that specified BEd as qualification criteria for primary teachers. “We are bound by the decision of the Supreme Court and so is the State, under Article 141 of the Constitution...” the high court bench said.