NCTE may revert to 1-year BEd, MEd in 2026

The National Council for Teacher Education has proposed to revert the bachelor of education and master of education programmes to one-year format from the 2026-27 academic session, a decade after it extended the duration of both courses to two years.

Upon approval of the draft policy, which was issued on the NCTE website late on Thursday night, the standalone Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) will have the option to continue offering the two-year BEd and MEd programmes, or transition to the one-year format, provided they meet conditions outlined by NCTE in the new draft regulations.

According to the proposed norms, the National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct a standardised subject and aptitude test for admission to all BEd and MEd courses. HT has seen a copy of the draft.

Currently, NTA conducts National Common Entrance Test (NCET) for admission to four-year Integrated Teachers Education Programme (ITEP) programmes in Indian Institute of Technology (IITs), National Institute of Technology (NITs) and other central and state universities.

“The modalities of the test for new ITEP courses to be conducted by NTA will be formulated by next year as these courses will start from 2026,” NCTE chairperson Pankaj Arora said.

In its Draft NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2025, the council also announced four specialized ITEP programmes — ITEP Yoga, Physical Education, Sanskrit Education, and Art Education — which will also be offered from the 2026-27 academic session.

The teacher education regulatory body has issued the draft for public feedback until March 8.

Along with the new structure of courses, NCTE has also prescribed a minimum requirement of infrastructure and faculties among others.

According to the draft regulations 2025, candidates having a master’s degree with at least 50% marks or those with a four-year undergraduate (UG) degree in a specialised subject with at least 50% marks will be eligible for admission to one-year BEd course.

MEd programme of 2-year duration will be offered to in-service teachers and educational functionaries, the draft said.

“The entire regulations are aligned with NEP recommendations,” Arora said.