No B.Ed course in 22 colleges from next year?

Declared unfit for running the course, colleges say they are unlikely to resume it owing to lack of demand, stiff fine imposed by the university

Declared unfit for running the course, colleges say they are unlikely to resume it owing to lack of demand, stiff fine imposed by the university

With the demand for the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) course on the wane and a stiff fine fixed by the Bangalore University (BU) for irregularities, 22 colleges, which were declared unfit to run the course, are unlikely to resume it anytime soon.u00a0


Write, wrong: The Bangalore University had asked these colleges to pay
a fine of Rs 5 lakh and give it in writing that the irregularities won't be
repeated in order to continue with the course. File pic

Last year, the university had formed a committee to inspect all the B.Ed colleges following a series of complaints about them lacking the proper infrastructure and qualified teaching staff.

The Academic Audit Committee had subsequently filed its report in the middle of this year and recommended the closure of the course in 22 colleges in the city.

The university had asked these colleges to pay a fine of Rs 5 lakh and give it in writing that the irregularities won't be repeated in order to continue with the course.

However, with the new academic session set to begin in January for B.Ed courses, not even one college has come forward to pay the fine.

Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Dr M Prabhudeva said, "Till now, not even one college has come forward to pay the fine. If they want to continue the course, they will have to pay the fine as soon as possible as the course starts in January."

Unwilling
Mohan Kumar (name changed), principal of one of the 22 colleges, said, "The fine fixed by the Bangalore University is too high. No one will be able to pay so much.

They should bring down the fine to Rs 1 lakh to enable at least some colleges to pay."

Another B.Ed college principal said, "All 22 colleges have approached the university and asked for the affiliation fee to be returned. Running a B.Ed course is a loss-making proposition as there aren't that many interested students."

Each B.Ed college can have 100 students for the courseu00a0-- 50 from the government quota through the Common Entrance Test and another 50 from the management quota.

"Even the government quota seats are not getting filled. Colleges are really struggling to run the course," he added.