India launches bridge course for primary teachers
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Union minister Pralhad Joshi began a six-month bridge course in Primary Teacher Education (PTE) for primary school teachers in India who hold a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree.
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) designed the course, and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will deliver it online.
This course addresses a Supreme Court ruling from April 2024 that clarified qualifications for teachers of Classes 1 to 5, requiring a Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) in addition to a B.Ed. The Supreme Court previously allowed teachers with only a B.Ed. to be appointed to primary schools between June 28, 2018, and August 11, 2023, following a 2018 NCTE notification.
However, the court later determined that a B.Ed. degree alone isn’t sufficient for teaching younger students because the teaching methods differ from those used in higher grades. The new bridge course gives eligible teachers a single chance to meet the D.El.Ed. requirement and keep their jobs. NIOS received 67,529 registrations for the course, approving 66,312 after verifying documents, with over half of the approved applications, 33,755, coming from Uttar Pradesh.
Teachers taking the course, which will be available in Hindi, English, and 20 other scheduled languages, must finish it within one year of starting, or they risk losing their positions. The course is intended to protect current employment and won’t qualify people for new primary teaching jobs.
