Where seats go abegging

Updated on: Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Faced with a lack of demand for B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) seats, the State government was recently forced to scrap the Common Entrance Test (CET) for admissions to B.Ed colleges.

With an increase in the number of colleges that offer the course (418 colleges, more than 40,000 seats), these institutions struggle to fill their seats. And, CET is made redundant with fewer students applying for the vast number of seats.

For instance, last year 22,325 seats were available under CET (the rest being filled under management quota). Only 19,157 candidates wrote the test, and of them only about 12,568 opted for B.Ed seats, leaving a whopping 9,757 seats unfilled.

“There has been a declining trend for the last three years for B.Ed seats. With more than 50 per cent of the seats not taken, we have had to scrap the test,” said S.L. Chavan, Joint Director of Public Instruction, Bangalore division.

The impact of the decline of teaching candidates is severe in some government colleges. “We run some colleges with just 5 or 10 students. A lot of State government colleges are running with a loss,” said S.M. Nandakumar, under-secretary (universities) in the Higher Education department, Government of Karnataka.
Riddled with problems

CET for B.Ed had been riddled with numerous problems from the onset, one of which is the lack of a common academic calendar. According to rules set by the State government, B.A. and B.Sc graduates can apply for the course. However, with different universities following different academic calendars — some universities ending courses months after the end of the same course in other universities — the Centralised Admission Cell (CAC) which conducted the entrance exam was forced to schedule the exam as late as October.

“While we wait for all universities to finish their courses, students from other universities lose up to half a semester by the time admissions are finalised in January. Frustrated by the waiting, most candidates opted for other courses,” said a high-ranking official at the CAC.

Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University N. Prabhu Dev expressed concern over the issue, saying “The government must come out with a common academic calendar for all universities. Currently, they defer admission deadlines endlessly, citing supplementary examination or accommodating foreign nationals as reasons.”
NCTE norms

Another reason for the decline of interest for B.Ed could be the exclusion by the government of graduates from particular degrees from applying to B.Ed courses in the State, said K.B. Praveena, Assistant Professor in the Department of Studies in Education, University of Mysore.

“National Council for Teacher Education [NCTE] norms say that all graduates can apply for B.Ed courses, but the State government does not allow B.Com graduates to apply,” he said.
Reckles approvals

Demand for B.Ed courses reached its peak around 2004, after which the government approved setting up of private colleges en masse.

In the last 10 years, the government has added only two teaching colleges, while the number of aided colleges increased from 22 to 43.

However, the number of unaided colleges has jumped fivefold — from only 68 in 2003 to 418 currently.

This reckless sanctioning resulted in many colleges becoming sub-standard. “Many of these colleges have infrastructural problems and their facilities are inadequate,” said Mr. Dev, adding that many of these colleges also indulge in unscrupulous activities.

He cited instances of up to 22 colleges in the last academic year being pulled up for offering ‘package admissions', wherein students from North and North-East India are offered a ‘deal' to get their degree – that is, after paying the course fee, the student need not attend classes and could stay at home while the college illegally gives him attendance. The student need to show up only for examinations.

Mr. Praveena estimates that around 95 per cent of teaching colleges in the State are “not up to the mark.” Similarly, a higher education official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the B.Ed courses were not “advanced” enough for the graduate to teach in CBSE and ICSE schools and colleges, where the demand is increasing.

There is an over-reliance by graduates on recruitment in government schools and colleges, which has only a limited intake.
Mismatch

A CAC official said, “There may be a maximum of 10,000 government posts in the next recruitment drive, but the number of candidates will extend into lakhs.”

As an example, he said, “Recently, we had called for applications for 3,000 posts in primary and secondary schools in the State. We received more than 1.27 lakh applications. Majority of the applicants were B.Ed degree holders from previous years who had not been recruited.”

Mr. Praveena blames the government for the lack of recruitment.

He says that it should notify vacancies immediately, instead of waiting for years for a recruitment drive.
Online test

With the scrapping of admission test, the order of ranks will be decided by a simple process based only on marks obtained in undergraduate courses. “90 per cent of the marks would be from their B.A. or B.Sc examinations, and 10 per cent of the Internal Assessment marks,” said Mr. Chavan, adding that this was compliant with the norms.
Quicker process

While officials at the CAC do not expect the number of candidates to increase with the introduction of online applications, they expect the time taken for admissions and counselling to reduce dramatically.

However, Mr. Chavan emphasised that the scrapping of the test was temporary.

“The moment the demand for seats increases, we will resume the test,” he said.

While it is unlikely the demand will pick up for some years to come, students can download the admission forms (available till September 30) from the website: www.trsforms.com/cac/

Where seats go abegging

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