Monday, September 20, 2008
Career option in primary schools gradually ceases to be an attraction

Tiruchi: A chunk of vacancies in several of the 36 teacher training institutes in the district could not be filled even after the last date for admissions this year, implying that the career option of teaching in primary schools is gradually ceasing to be an attraction for students.

Even the District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) in the region had to wind up admissions without takers for a few vacancies. That the candidates will have to wait for at least a decade to get government posting is another matter altogether.


The Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training (DTERT), which has decided to make its own assessment of the facilities and manpower from this year, has accorded sanction only for one institute in Tiruchi district for 2008-09 though the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had approved nearly 10 applications. Of the remaining, a few could not fulfil the infrastructure norm, and the remaining applicants have apparently abandoned the initiative due to the perceived decline of teacher training as an attractive option for students, informed the Principal of DIET, Kumulur, Jamal Mohideen.

A couple of institutes that had been functioning from temporary buildings for the past three years could face closure if the NCTE declines their request for an extension for another year for fulfilling the norm of moving into full-fledged permanent facilities.

There are four to five institutes in the district that are yet to take any serious step for moving into permanent buildings even two years after commencement.

Failure to create the facilities in a year’s time could push them also into a similar predicament, said Mr. Jamal Mohideen. Besides infrastructure norms, the shortcomings on the faculty front is what the Institutes find it difficult to rectify.

The managements of these institutes are not keen on spending huge sums for creating the permanent infrastructure since as per an interim court order, they cannot collect more than Rs.23,500 as annual tuition fee.

Until a few years ago, applicants had to shell out donations of up to Rs.1 lakh in addition to the tuition fee to secure a seat in a situation of intense demand. The glut situation caused by the presence of over 600 teacher training institutions across Tamil Nadu is now leading to their decline, it is learnt.

The NCTE, which has so far been according permission for applicants to start teacher training institutes based on the details of the building, land and infrastructure, is contemplating a move to make it mandatory for institutes to furnish details of faculties on their websites at the very outset, C. Thangamuthu, NCTE Chairman, Bangalore, said.

Be it B.Ed. colleges or teacher training institutes, they will have to abide by the NCTE’s whip restraining them from going ahead with admissions before securing the NOC from State Government. The NCTE is likely to withdraw permission if the institutes do not fall in line, it is learnt.