Shiksha Bhavan, the education department of Jamshedpur Women’s College, on Monday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta

Colleges offering BEd and MEd will henceforth be under the scanner with teachers’ training regulator deciding to impose stringent affiliation norms from the next academic year, beginning 2015.

The National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE), New Delhi, which decides on colleges offering BEd and MEd courses, held a meeting in Bhubaneswar on Sunday to introduce the changes it intends to bring about while monitoring affiliated colleges.

From now on, colleges will have to renew NCTE affiliations every three years as opposed to the current norm of granting official nods to institutions in blocks of five or 10 years or permanently.

“This decision is very important for colleges in Jharkhand. There are many colleges in semi-urban or remote areas where there is no basic infrastructure. Also, established colleges deteriorate with time. But, now each and every college will be on tenterhooks,” said Shahla Jabeen, an NCTE member from Jharkhand who attended the meeting.

Colleges in Jharkhand, especially those under Kolhan University, have often courted controversy during BEd admissions because of the huge demand for the course.

From the 2015 session, discussions are on within NCTE to change over to a two-year BEd course as opposed to the present 10-month or year-long course duration.

The council is also thinking of imposing a new teaching criteria: a candidate will be eligible to teach in schools only after he/she has completed MEd.

“Jharkhand was represented by three persons, one each from Kolhan University, Vinoba Bhave University and Nilamber Pitamber University. What we realised is that colleges and even universities will have to undergo a lot of change to benefit students. In future, imparting a BEd will not be a cakewalk for colleges,” said Jabeen.