HRD officials blame NCTE stand for DElEd deg row

New Delhi: As the lacuna on the part of HRD Ministry and loopholes in the guidelines of Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) programme have put the left lakhs of 'trained' teachers in lurch, former officials of the ministry have condemned the decision of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to declare the DElEd programme conducted by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) as invalid for teacher recruitment.

Former officials of the HRD Ministry have maintained that the teachers' training course was started by the NIOS on the direction of the HRD Ministry, so it's very much valid for teacher recruitment.

The DElEd programme was designed during the tenure of former school education secretary Anil Swarup. However, Swarup said that it would not be appropriate for him to comment on this issue. Though he stressed that the course is eligible to fulfill the necessary conditions of teacher recruitment as it was started at the behest of the HRD Ministry.

Agreeing with Swarup, another official said, "The guidelines of DElEd programme has it that the course was designed for in-service teachers, but it's not mentioned that after completing the course, an in-service teacher cannot apply for other teaching jobs."

Blaming the NCTE for creating confusion, the official further said, "If NCTE was of the view to restrict the movement of DElEd trained teachers, it should had made it clear prior to the start of the course."

Notably, after the DElEd certificate validity issue was raised in the recently held Cabinet meeting, HRD

Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had directed concerned officials to find out a workable 'solution' at earliest.