Bhubaneswar: All 16 govt teacher education institutions offering BEd and MEd courses under the higher education department run the risk of losing recognition from National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) for failure to sumbit details of their faculty members and their eligibility.NCTE is the statutory body under the education ministry that regulates teacher education institutions (TEIs) in the country. It has warned institutions that their recognition could be withdrawn if the details are not submitted by Sept 29.The council has been seeking the information since Sept 2024 following a complaint filed in 2023 by one Lingaraj Pradhan, who alleged that ineligible people had been recruited by the department through Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) as assistant professors (teacher education) in different disciplines in govt-run teacher education institutions.OPSC had conducted recruitment for 385 assistant professor (teacher education) posts in 2021-22, based on a requisition from the state govt, following which appointments were made.The complainant alleged that some of those appointed did not possess an MEd degree as required for the posts under NCTE norms. Looking into the complaint, NCTE’s eastern regional committee (ERC) decided that all council-recognised teacher education institutions in Odisha would have to submit lists of their faculty members, along with their qualifications and eligibility, duly approved by the respective affiliating universities, to enable the committee to examine the matter.The issue came up for discussion at ERC’s 408th meeting held earlier in Sept. ERC chairperson Dibyajyoti Mahanta said only three of the TEIs had submitted their faculty lists last year, while the rest were yet to comply. The committee, he said, therefore decided to issue a final show-cause notice to the institutions and proceed with withdrawal of recognition if they failed to comply with the directive.The three institutions that have submitted their faculty details are DAV CTE, Koraput; PMIASE, Sambalpur; and NKC CTE, Angul, whose eligibility would be examined. “We had again written to the state govt in May 2025 seeking replies from the other TEIs. A month later, the govt replied that engagement of faculty in TEIs had been taken care of on priority basis and vacancies were being filled as per NCTE norms. However, the compliance from the institutions is yet to be received,” Mahanta said.OPSC chairperson Arun Sarangi said the recruitments were made based on the requisition and eligibility criteria provided by the state govt.A senior higher education department official said all teacher education institutions had been asked to comply with NCTE directive and most of them have already done it. NCTE will examine the compliance reports and decide on the issue.
