SC concerned over mushrooming private B.Ed colleges

The Supreme Court on Wednesday took a serious view of mushrooming of private B.Ed. colleges in the country, saying they want "everybody on the street to become Bachelor in Education (B.Ed.)".

An apex court bench comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh said the "quality of education must be a concern for all".

The court's observation came in the course of the hearing of petitions by 32 private B.Ed colleges in Rajasthan seeking No Objection Certificate from N.C.T.E. to continue with B.Ed courses.

Making a distinction between degrees in other courses and disciplines and B.Ed., the court observed that in "other branches (of education) they want to have degrees for survival (jobs) but in case of B.Ed. they want to be educator and teachers".

Noting that many students in the private B.Ed colleges were from Bihar and other states, the bench said one could understand a student travelling long distances for admission into engineering or medical colleges. But it wondered why a student would travel that far for a B.Ed. course.

Senior counsel Sanjay Hegde, appearing for one of the private colleges, told the court that the private colleges had surfacing because the government was withdrawing from the education sector.

The court asked the counsel who was the promoter of the B.Ed college he was representing. As Hegde said he was teacher, the court directed his presence on the next hearing on March 9. "Whatever his specialization, we will ask him questions."