B.Ed. Graduates Ineligible For Post Of Primary School Teachers, Holds Supreme Court; Says 'Right To Education Includes Quality Education'

The Supreme Court has upheld the decision of the Rajasthan High Court which had made B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education) degree holders ineligible for appointment to the post of primary school teachers. The bench comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia opined that the fundamental right of primary education in India as guaranteed under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution as well as the Right to Education Act, 2009 not just included 'free' and 'compulsory' education for children below 14 years of age but also included 'quality' education to be imparted in such children. As per the Supreme Court, B.Ed. degree holders did not pass the basic pedagogical threshold require for teaching primary classes and thus would not be able to provide 'quality' education to primary school children. Sequence Of EventsThe core of the dispute consists a notification dated 28.06.2018, issued by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The said notification made B.Ed. degree holders eligible for appointment to the post of primary school teachers (classes I to V). Despite of this, when the Board of Secondary Education, State of Rajasthan, issued an advertisement for Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test (RTET), it excluded B.Ed. degree holders from the list of eligible candidates. This action of the Rajasthan Government was challenged before the Rajasthan High Court.Another set of petitioners, who were diploma holders in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.), which is the only teaching qualification required for teachers at primary level, challenged the inclusion of B.Ed. qualified candidates. The State of Rajasthan supported these second batch of candidates. Rajasthan High Court quashed the NCTE notification and held that B.Ed. candidates were unqualified for the posts of primary school teachers.Before the Supreme CourtSenior Advocate PS Patwalia and Senior Advocate Meenakshi Arora appeared for the B.Ed. qualified candidates. They argued that the High Court failed to consider that the notification was a policy decision taken by the NCTE after the Central Government had issued directions in this regard and the High Court was wrong in interfering with the policy decision of the Central Government.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Senior Advocate Dr. Manish Singhvi appeared for the Diploma holders and the State of Rajasthan respectively and argued that the NCTE being an expert body had to take an independent decision in this case, based on the objective realties and not just follow the directions of the Central Government.ASG Aishwarya Bhati and ASG Vikramjeet Banerjee, appearing for Union of India argued that the High Court order was passed ignoring the powers of the Central Government given both under the Act as well as NCTE Act. 'Quality' Education A Fundamental RightIn its judgement, the Supreme Court traced the history of the right to free and compulsory education for children in India and called it a part of the 'social vision' of the framers of the Indian Constitution. The court added that ‘free’ and ‘compulsory’ elementary education was of no use unless it was also a ‘meaningful’ education. "In other words, elementary education has to be of good ‘quality’, and not just a ritual or formality!", emphasised the court. Highlighting the object of Article 21A of the Constitution and the Right to Education Act, the court added that the Act had even set down certain norms and standards which have to be followed in elementary schools for purpose of providing a meaningful and ‘quality’ education. "A good teacher is the first assurance of ‘quality’ education in a school. Any compromise on the qualification of teachers would necessarily mean a compromise on the ‘quality’ of education," stated the court.In this context, the court highlighted that as per Section 23 of the RTE Act the Central Government was empowered to relax the minimum qualifications prescribed by the ‘academic authority’, under certain circumstances and for a limited period. The ‘Academic Authority’ is the NCTE, which brought a notification on 23.08.2010, laying down the necessary qualifications for teachers, both at primary, as well as upper primary level but the said notification did not provide B.Ed. as a qualification for appointment to the post of primary school teachers. Later this notification was amended, but B.Ed. was never included (till the impugned notification dated 28.06.2018), as an essential qualification for teachers of primary school.Pedagogical Training Necessary For Teaching Primary School ChildrenThe court underlined that as per NCET, the qualification which was prescribed for a teacher in primary school was a diploma in elementary education (D.El.Ed.), and not any other educational qualification, including B.Ed. It was stated that a candidate with a D.El.Ed. degree was trained to handle students at primary level, as they had undergone a pedagogical course specifically designed for that purpose.However, a person who has a B.Ed....

B.Ed. Graduates Ineligible For Post Of Primary School Teachers, Holds Supreme Court; Says 'Right To Education Includes Quality Education'

Padmakshi Sharma

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