Bengaluru: The demand for the Bachelor of Education (BEd) programme in the state has dipped this year compared to the past two years, with admissions for 2025–2026 recently concluded.The state has 406 BEd colleges — 9 govt, 50 aided, and 347 unaided institutions. As much as 50% of seats in private minority colleges and 75% in private non-minority colleges fall under govt quota. Altogether, there were 18,150 govt quota seats available this year including those in govt colleges.According to data from the department of school education, 79% of these seats — approximately 14,248 — were filled. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021–22, only 59% of seats were filled. The percentage rose to 76% in 2022-23 and peaked at 88% in 2023-24. However, the admissions started falling slowly after that. Only 86% of seats were filled in 2024-25 and the figure fell to a three-year low this time.“When B Ed became a two-year course from its earlier one year format, many considered it a burden. It takes 5 years for them to become job-ready with a UG of three years and B Ed of two years. An additional postgraduation means a total of seven years. NCTE started an integrated teacher education programme with a UG and B Ed of four years, but there are only 11 colleges offering this in Karnataka,” said Yerriswamy MC, dean of education, Bangalore University. “Moreover, there were not many teacher appointments in govt schools in recent years. In govt schools, the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and another entrance exam are mandatory for appointment. It can be tedious and challenging with these additional exams,” he added.“Sometimes, students also pick up the management seats if they are closer to their hometown. The fee difference in some colleges between a govt seat and a private seat is not too big. Therefore, the govt seats lying vacant in some colleges is not surprising,” he added.Principal of Al Ameen College of Education, Sudha HR, echoed that the trend of a dip in admissions reverberated on her campus too. “We have an intake of 50. We filled 44. This year, we saw a dip in interest in admissions. We are unsure why. NCTE proposed a 1-year programme for students with a master’s degree. We do not know whether students are waiting for it,” she said.The number of candidates who applied to govt quota seats also went down drastically – 56,548 in 2022-23, 54,636 in 2023-24, 41,700 in 2024-25, and only 35,355 in 2025-26. In this time span (from 2022 to 2025), 12 colleges were added. “Despite the larger number of applicants, not all are likely to take admissions until they get colleges of their choice. They also might have applied for B Ed as a back-up plan,” Sudha added.Time to make teaching desirable professionStakeholders point out that the profession needs to be more lucrative. A govt schoolteacher has a basic pay of Rs 41,000-Rs 81,000, and a high schoolteacher has a basic pay of Rs 54,175-Rs 99,400. This is exclusive of HRA and DA. In private schools, pay can range from Rs 12,000 in a budget school to Rs 2 lakh in an international school. “We need more teachers in our country, and unless we really make teaching a desirable and sought-after profession, we will not be able to attract competent young people into the profession. B Ed is really the only route to a lifetime career in school teaching. It is entirely up to every state to give teaching a sheen it lost for several decades,” said Maya Menon, founder director, Teacher Foundation.BOX: IN A NUTSHELLYear—Colleges—Intake—Percentage of admission 2020–21—382—16,789—68 2021–22—389—17,223—59 2022–23—394—17,488—76 2023–24—397—17,535—88 2024–25—409—18,103—86 2025–26—406—18,150—79
