Education ministry notifies four-year Integrated Teacher Education Programme

The course will initially be offered in pilot mode in about 50 selected multidisciplinary institutions across the country, the Ministry of Education said.

The Centre Wednesday notified the four-year integrated teacher education programme (ITEP) — envisaged as the minimum degree qualification for school teachers under the National Education Policy 2020 — which will be offered by about 50 institutes across the country from the next academic year.

Dual-major bachelor’s degrees will be offered under ITEP, integrating basic BA and BSc degrees with BEd. The course will help students save a year — pursuing BEd after completing a bachelor’s degree currently takes five years.

NEP 2020 states that teacher engagement from 2030 will be “only through ITEP”. The course will initially be offered in pilot mode in about 50 selected multidisciplinary institutions across the country, the Ministry of Education said in a statement Wednesday.

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) under the Ministry of Education has devised the curriculum of the course. The four-year ITEP will be available for all students who choose teaching as a profession after clearing school.

“Admission for the course will be carried out by the National Testing Agency (NTA) through the National Common Entrance Test (NCET). This course will be offered by multidisciplinary institutions and will become the minimal degree qualification for schoolteachers,” the statement added.