Calcutta, Nov. 22: Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee today promised to ensure that the row over primary teachers’ training institutes would be “resolved soon”.

“I will talk to HRD minister Arjun Singh on November 27 to discuss the issue. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and education minister Partha De have written to me seeking my intervention,” Mukherjee said over the phone from Behrampore. “I will ensure that the issue is resolved soon.”

The high court had in October declared all 138 PTTIs in the state “illegal” for not obtaining recognition from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The ruling put the future of 75,000 students under a cloud.

On a day’s visit to Calcutta and Murshidabad, Mukherjee said De had spoken to him about the stalemate. “I told him the Centre is looking into the matter. Something is definitely being worked out to end the imbroglio,” he added.

Although the minister did not spell out what was being “worked out”, sources in Delhi and in the state government said the Centre was looking at a three-pronged strategy.

Officials said top priority would be given to legalising the certificates of all 75,000 students who had completed their courses. In the second phase, the pending exams for these students would be held.

Finally, measures would be taken to ensure the courses offered by the 138 institutes from the 2009-10 session onwards get recognised by the council.

“The Centre has confirmed that it will solve the crisis. But it has categorically said the deadlock cannot be solved at one go. Instead, it will be resolved in three phases and the entire process will be completed by next July,” a senior official in the state education department said.

School education minister De will leave for Delhi next week when the Centre is expected to finalise the strategy.

An amendment to the NCTE Act may be necessary to legalise the certificates handed out by the training institutes and to enable them to get the council’s recognition.