With the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) extending the last date of filing a performance appraisal report to March 15, the authorities at the University of Calicut have intensified efforts to restore the lost recognition of its 11 teacher education centres.
The NCTE cancelled the recognition of Calicut University Teacher Education Centres (CUTEC) citing issues such as lack of qualification of its principals, last year. According to the NCTE Regulations, 2014, principals should have PhDs and teachers should have an M.Ed, besides clearing the National Eligibility Test. The university was earlier supposed to meet all requirements and file a report by January 29.
Meanwhile, the Syndicate decision to appoint principals and teachers “in line with the qualifications prescribed by the NCTE” has put a question mark on the future of incumbents in these posts. Sources said that a majority of the principals were not qualified.
A Syndicate member told The Hindu on Thursday that the university would go ahead with efforts to restore the recognition, “meeting all the requirements of the NCTE”. He did not specify if the current principals and teachers would lose their jobs if they are found to be not qualified.
Sources said that most principals did not have PhDs. At least some teachers’ posts are lying vacant as well. Though the national council wants permanent staff to be appointed to these posts, the university had been taking in teachers on a one-year contract basis. The council mandates that each centre should have a building spread across 1,500 sq ft. Some centres are not that spacious.
Ten of the centres are functioning from their own buildings, and the one at Chalakudy is on rent. Though the building at Vadakara is also its own, registration of land is reportedly yet to be done. Each centre has 50 students each. An official said that the centres at Kozhikode, Malappuram, Vadakara, and Chakkittapara had the required space.
Also, most centres do not have playgrounds. A majority of them have no psychology and technology labs that are mandatory along with labs in various subjects. There are also no physical education teachers at many centres.
