In what can prove to be perilous for the jobs of thousands of primary teachers of Uttarakhand, the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) is showing reluctance to grant in retrospection recognition to the Special Basic Teachers Certificate (BTC) course offered by different District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) of Uttarakhand. The attitude of the NCTE, the apex body of teachers education in the country, regarding the future of more than 15,000 Bachelor of Education (B Ed), Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) qualified special BTC teachers is surprising in the light of passage of ‘National Council for Teacher Education Bill (Amended)–2019 in parliament in December last year.

The Bill provides in retrospection grant of recognition for the special BTC course done by these teachers. After the passage of the important Bill, the Union Government has notified the Act. It is learnt that the officers of NCTE are putting obstacles in the way of grant of recognition to the DIETs of Uttarakhand. Last month, the NCTE has demanded copies of syllabus of the special BTC course of DIETs. The education department had promptly provided the required document but NCTE still sitting over the file of the grant of recognition.

When contacted, the Deputy Secretary, Education, Dinesh Chandra Joshi said that regular correspondence is being done with the NCTE on the issue which concerns the fate of thousands of teachers. The special BTC primary teachers are very anxious on the issue. “ When parliament passed the amendment bill, we celebrated as it saved our jobs but it appears now that the NCTE has other ideas. When the bill was passed many politicians took credit. They should help us by taking up our case with NCTE,’’ said one such teacher.

The issue

In Uttarakhand, there more than 15,000 serving teachers who were appointed on the basis of special BTC course in different DIETs  from the year 2001 to 2016. However, in 2016, it was realised that the all important recognition from NCTE was not taken by the education department of Uttarakhand for special BTC course. The plea of the department to grant recognition in retrospection was turned down by NCTE as it violates the very act by which it was governed. As per guidelines of the union Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry enforced from 2016, only the Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) qualified candidates are eligible to teach the primary students. The HRD ministry had made it clear that after March 2019, all primary teachers who don’t have a DElEd degree or BTC certificate would be removed from post of primary teachers.This order created a situation where thousands of trained serving teachers were to lose their jobs after March 2019. The problem of these teachers appeared solved when parliament passed the NCTE amendment bill. However, the attitude of NCTE on the issue could prove damaging for thousands of primary teachers of Uttarakhand.