Three decades after its inception at Delhi University, the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has announced plans to phase out the B.El.Ed (Bachelor of Elementary Education) program, a four-year degree focused on elementary teacher training.
The recently released draft of the NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2025, indicates that the B.El.Ed program will be discontinued starting with the 2026-27 academic year, prohibiting new admissions to any institutions currently offering this four-year degree.
Institutions that have received recognition for the B.El.Ed program will be permitted to continue enrolling students, provided they transition to the new Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) prior to the commencement of the 2026-27 academic session, as stated in the draft regulations.
The last set of regulations issued by the NCTE that outlined the standards for teacher education programs was in 2014. These regulations indicated that the B.El.Ed, which is a professional degree program available after class 12, was designed to prepare educators for the elementary education stage, covering classes I to VIII. Although Delhi University introduced the program in the 1994-95 academic year, the NCTE first established regulations for it in 1999.
“This year, we will permit admissions to the B.El.Ed program; however, starting in 2026, no further admissions will be accepted. We have proposed a transition of this program into ITEP. In alignment with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, we are introducing new programs, leading to the integration of older programs into the new framework,” stated NCTE Chairman Pankaj Arora.
ITEP, a four-year program (BA B.Ed/ B.Sc B.Ed/ B.Com B.Ed) initiated in a pilot phase at select institutions starting from the 2023-24 academic year, will transition from pilot status to a regular offering for teacher education beginning in the 2025-26 session. This program will encompass four specializations: Yoga, Physical Education, Sanskrit Education, and Art Education.
In 2023, the Academic Council of Delhi University ratified a resolution to replace the B.El.Ed program with ITEP.
According to Arora, approximately 90-95 institutions nationwide currently provide the B.El.Ed program.
The proposed regulations also include provisions for one-year B.Ed and M.Ed programs.
While the National Testing Agency (NTA) administers the National Common Entrance Test (NCET) for ITEP, the draft regulations indicate that admissions to the B.Ed and M.Ed programs will also be determined through a “subject and aptitude test conducted by the NTA.” Furthermore, the regulations stipulate that “a single nationwide entrance test will be conducted by NTA” for these courses.
Currently, admissions to B.Ed and M.Ed programs in central universities are facilitated through the CUET-UG and CUET-PG, which are conducted by the NTA.
Poonam Batra, a professor of education formerly associated with Delhi University and instrumental in the development and coordination of the B.El.Ed program for over twenty years, remarked, “The discontinuation of the B.El.Ed program will significantly disadvantage the teacher education sector in the country. B.El.Ed is the sole integrated program that prepares educators through a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, enabling them to innovate in classrooms based on emerging knowledge in school subjects and the diverse contexts and inquiries of students. It is a program rich in content and pedagogy, emphasizing both personal and professional development for teachers, and integrates theory and practice through 70 percent practicum over the four years. Many of its elements have influenced the design of the two-year B.Ed program.”
Curriculum design has traditionally been the exclusive domain of universities. However, with the introduction of ITEP, this autonomy is compromised, posing a risk to the preparation of teachers and leading to a potential standardization of their training. This raises the question: how can teachers effectively instruct in the diverse classrooms that characterize India? The ITEP purports to offer an integrated approach, yet it essentially follows a 3+1 model, comprising three years of undergraduate study followed by one year of education within a colonial framework. This is contrary to the successful changes implemented by the B.El.Ed program. Why, then, is this initiative being discontinued?
