Govt plans to reserve faculty posts for SC, ST candidates
NEW DELHI: The government has decided to provide reservation for SC, ST and OBC candidates in faculty positions in BEd colleges, universities and teaching institutes across the country.
A notification in this regard has been issued by the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE), the apex regulator for pre-service and in-service teachers in the country, a copy of which is with HT. There are over 12000 teacher training institutes in the country offering various degree programmes, including BEd and MEd.
According to sources, although NCTE regulation 2009 had a section on reservation, the 2014 regulation was not explicit. The NCTE has made up for this lack of clarity through the recent notification, which is expected to give a fresh impetus to the application of affirmative action in the teacher education sector in the country.
The regulator, through the notification issued on June 12 amended its regulations 2014 to remove a few omissions in the original notification. “A clause has been inserted in the norms related to appointment of teachers in teacher education institutions to specify the existing reservation policy for Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward classes,” said a senior official.
In addition to this, the qualification prescribed for appointment of faculty for BEd, MEd, and other courses has been made at par with those prescribed by UGC under its regulation, which implies that NET qualification is mandatory to get a job in B.Ed colleges too.
A teacher education qualification such as Bachelor of Education is a pre-requisite before a person can teach in a school in the country. Faculty appointments in teacher education colleges will henceforth be left with no option but to implement government’s policy on reservation.
Institutions recognised by NCTE will from now on follow reservations in all positions for SC’s, ST’s, OBC’s and persons with disability as per the extant policy of the central or state Government as applicable.