With poor pay on rise, demand for BEd in Maharashtra dips

After a steady rise for two years, the demand for Bachelor of Education (BEd) in the state saw a drop this year.

According to data from the state common entrance test (CET) cell, 51,641 teaching aspirants registered for BEd CET 2019, of which 46,313 took the test on June 8 and 9. Last year, the cell had recorded 53,692 registrations. The number of aspirants was 34,256 in 2017, and 24,402 in 2016.

According to experts, uncertainty over the two-year BEd programme and lack of employment opportunities for teachers are to blame for the dip. “There’s a question mark over the future of two-year BEd course, as many students believe it will be replaced by the four-year integrated BEd programme. Many are picking short-term skill development courses over BEd,” said Ramaa Bhoslay, principal, Government College of Education, Panvel.

Rauf Pathan, chairman, Universal Society for Quality Education and Research, which runs two teacher training colleges in the state, said, “Many teaching aspirants expect to get government jobs, but they don’t get it. The state has reduced its investment in private education, with teachers being hired on paltry salaries. The aspirants are also required to clear the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET), which further reduces their employment opportunities.”

This is the fourth admission cycle after the government scrapped the entrance test conducted by private teacher training colleges and introduced a single state-conducted common entrance test (CET) for all teacher training colleges in the state in 2016. The move had resulted in a significant dip in the number of students seeking admission in BEd, as many students remained unaware of the new admission process. “The government doesn’t adequately publicise its CET. It shouldn’t conduct the test so early as many students are yet to make up their minds about their career. The test should be conducted in July,” said Ramzan Shaikh, secretary, Maharashtra Vinaanudanit Adhyapak Mahavidyalaya Sansthachalk Association (MVAMSA) — an umbrella body of unaided teacher training colleges.

Till the academic year 2015-16, the students were admitted to around 450 unaided colleges on the basis of their scores in a CET conducted by MVAMSA, while the state held a separate CET for admissions to around 50 government-aided colleges. For the past three years, all admissions were done through the government CET.