Teacher edu diploma to give way to advanced courses

Panaji: The diploma in elementary education or DElEd programme, pursued after Class XII, was an essential qualification until now in the state for recruitment as primary school teachers.
Hundreds of students sought admission to the programme each year. Now, the state has announced the discontinuation of the programme and has said no admissions to the first year of the DElEd course will take place during the academic year 2025-26.
The course has been discontinued as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) implementation in the state. There were around 250 seats of DElEd on offer in Goa. Besides seats at the state-run District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) at Porvorim, spots were available at Nirmala Institute at Altinho and two other institutes located at Colvale and Cortalim.
DElEd programme was earlier known as the DEd programme.
Officials said that as part of the NEP implementation, new programmes will be introduced to replace DElEd.
“Instead of DElEd, students will pursue other advanced programmes like integrated BEd and master’s in education programmes in the near future. Those who had done the diploma programme could only teach primary school students,” a state official said.
The official added, “This restricted their professional growth. The programmes which will replace the earlier course will offer better growth opportunities. Graduates will be able to progress to teaching high school students too.”
Those already admitted to the programme and studying in the second year will continue their course in 2025-26, officials said.
“Teachers who have already done DElEd will be offered bridge courses to bring them on a par with the new NEP requirements. Teachers at DIET too, while the new programme is introduced, will be involved in other activities like training teachers,” an official said.
The NEP 2020 stipulates that by 2030, at least the minimum qualification for teachers be a four-year integrated BEd degree, including extensive practical training at local schools. Institutions will need to comply with this policy to be able to continue providing teacher education programmes.
The NEP 2020 supports new programmes such as the Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP). The ITEP is a four-year degree (BA, BEd, BSc BEd, and BCom BEd) and allows specialisations in areas like yoga, physical education, Sanskrit, and art education.