B.Ed Degree Holders Are Not Eligible For Primary School Teacher Posts: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court upheld the Rajasthan High Court”s ruling that B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) degree holders are ineligible for appointment to the post of primary school teachers. The court said “elementary education has to be of good ‘quality’, and not just a ritual or formality” while delivering a judgement on an appeal filed by B.Ed graduates on a Division Bench judgment of Rajasthan High Court, dated November 25, 2021.
The Supreme Court judgement comes as a major relief for the Rajasthan government as the BSTC certificate or Basic School Teaching Certificate – the qualification in the state for recruitment in primary schools — holders as announced by the state government will be eligible to appear for the Rajasthan Eligibility Exam for Teachers (REET) Level 1.
The court mentioned P.M. Latha and Another versus State of Kerala and Others in which the argument that B.Ed. qualification is a higher qualification than Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) was rejected.
Earlier, the National Council for Teacher Education or NCTE notified that B.Ed. degree holders are eligible for appointment to the post of primary school teachers (classes I to V). When the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, issued an advertisement in January 2021 for Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (RTET Level-1), it excluded B.Ed. degree holders from the list of eligible candidates. This action of the Rajasthan Government was challenged before the High Court.
“Elementary education for children is today a Fundamental Right enshrined under Article 21A of Part III of the Constitution of India. Every child (upto 14 years of age), has a fundamental Right to have ‘free’ and ‘compulsory’ elementary education. But then ‘free’ and ‘compulsory’ elementary education is of no use unless it is also a ‘meaningful’ education. In other words, elementary education has to be of good ‘quality’, and not just a ritual or formality!,” the court said.
“The decision whether to include or exclude B.Ed. as a qualification for teachers in primary school is an academic decision, which has to be taken after proper study by the academic body i.e. NCTE and should be better left to this expert body,” it added.
“But as we have seen the decision to include B.Ed. as a qualification is not an independent decision of NCTE, but it was the decision of the Central Government and NCTE was simply directed to carry it out for that being a direction under Section 29 of NCTE Act, a direction NCTE followed,” the judgement said.
