Don’t scrap Bachelor of Elementary Education course, 15 eminent professors write to minister

NEW DELHI: Fifteen eminent professors of education from across the world have urged union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to scrap plans to discontinue the B.El.Ed. (Bachelor of Elementary Education) programme, a four-year degree programme in elementary teacher education.

The letter, sent on Monday, has come a month after the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) released draft regulations in February 2025 which outline new norms and standards for teacher education programmes.

The draft rules propose discontinuing the B.El.Ed. course from the 2026–27 academic session and requiring institutions currently offering the course to transition to the new Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP) before the start of the session.

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Among the signatories to the letter are Prof Edward Vickers, UNESCO chair on education for peace, social justice and global citizenship, Kyushu University, Japan, Prof Robin Alexander of University of Cambridge and Prof Michael W Apple of University of Wisconsin who have previously served on the editorial advisory board of the Indian Journal of Teacher Education, a NCTE publication.

Introduced first by Delhi University (DU) in 1994, the B.El.Ed programme has been adopted by approximately 30 colleges and universities across India.

The new programme, ITEP is a four-year course introduced for students after Class 12. It was launched in pilot mode at 57 institutions in 2023–24 and is currently offered at 19 central universities, 21 state universities, seven National Institute of Technology (NITs), three Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), and 14 colleges.

ITEP is in line with the National Education Policy 2020, which proposes that the minimum degree qualification for teaching by 2030 would be a four-year integrated B.Ed degree that teaches a range of knowledge content, pedagogy and includes strong practicum training in the form of student-teaching at local schools.

The letter referred to the plan to replace Delhi University’s B.El.Ed. with ITEP as “counter-productive”.

“B.El.Ed. is a flagship teacher education programme that has endured for three decades and proved its worth. It has contributed to enhancing the status of elementary-level teachers in India and to significant advances in the quality and outcomes of their teaching. We therefore appeal to you to cancel plans to discontinue the B.El.Ed.. Where innovation promises an advance on existing arrangements, it is surely to be welcomed. To discontinue a programme renowned for its excellence is therefore counter-productive,” the letter said.

Calling B.El.Ed. programme at Delhi University as a “shining exception,” the letter said, “As India’s first comprehensive, university-level pre-service programme for elementary-level instructors, the B.El.Ed. integrates teacher education with undergraduate studies in various disciplines - thereby implementing the recommendations of major commissions tasked by Indian governments with reviewing teacher education provision.”

DU on March 5 issued an information bulletin for admission to ITEP programmes in the academic session 2025-26. The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct entrance exams for admission to ITEP programmes on April 29.

“Delhi University started B.El.Ed. in 1994 at a time when there was no comprehensive graduate programme focusing on elementary education (Classes 1 to 8) for children in the age group 6 to 14, which now comes under the Right to Education (RTE) Act. We put in our best efforts into this course, and we kept improving this course and supported other colleges and universities that introduced this course. Before this programme, all BEd programmes in other universities focused on secondary teacher education (Classes 9 to 12),” said Prof Anita Rampal, former dean, faculty of education, University of Delhi.

Prof Rampal said NCTE’s plans to discontinue the B.El.ED course was “shocking”. “The academically robust and grounded programme of B.El.Ed. cannot even be compared with the new ITEP,” the professor said.

The letter written by international experts said B.El.Ed. was “renowned in India and abroad as an exemplary, world class teacher education programme” since it endowed teachers with the independence and confidence that thorough academic and professional training can provide.

The others who have signed the representation are Prof Paul Morris, Professor of Comparative Education, UCL Institute of Education; Prof Yusuf Sayeed, Professorial Chair in Global Education Policy and Equity, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK; Prof William Pinar, Tetsuo Aoki Professor in Curriculum Studies, Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia, Canada; Prof Martin Carnoy, American labour economist & Vida Jacks Professor of Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education; Prof Ken Zeichner, Boeing Professor of Teacher Education Emeritus, University of Washington, USA; Prof Chaise LaDousa, Professor of Anthropology of Education, Hamilton College, New York; Prof Angela Little, Professor Emeritus, University College London, Institute of Education, UK; Prof Crain Arther Soudien, School of Education, University of Cape Town, South Africa.