367 take first CET for all BED courses

MUMBAI: A total of 367 students took Maharashtra’s first-ever common entrance test (CET) for integrated, or composite, teacher training programmes.

Data from the state CET cell shows that while 355 students appeared for integrated bachelor of education (BED) courses — BA BED, Bcom BED and BSC Bed — 12 students took the first CET for integrated BED MED programme. The intake capacity for the former courses is 530 and that for the latter is 150.

The results for both of these examinations are out and the students will be admitted to these programmes through a centralised admission process (CAP).

Almost two years after the state government introduced CAP for four teacher training programmes — BED, MED, bachelor of physical education (BPED) and masters of physical education (MPED) — earlier this year, it decided that the admissions to integrated programmes will also be done in a similar way. Until now, colleges and universities admitted students to these courses directly.

Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015, requires the government to admit students to all professional courses through a centralised process.

The idea of composite courses was introduced as part of National Council of Teachers Education (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations 2014. This includes BA BED, BSC BED and Bcom BED and BED-MED.