Parliament passes NCTE (Amendment) Bill, 2018

The Parliament has given its approval to the National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

• The bill aims to protect the interest of the students who had completed courses from unrecognized institutes.

Features of the Bill:

• The Bill grants retrospective recognition to institutions offering teacher education courses after the establishment of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) until the academic year 2017-18.
• The Bill grants retrospective permission to start a new course or training in teacher education to institutions which satisfy certain conditions and which have offered teacher education courses after the establishment of the NCTE until the academic year 2017-2018.

Why was the bill necessary?

• As per the data from the Ministry of Human Resource Development, 23 state and Central universities and colleges offering B.Ed courses were found not recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education.
• As a result, the fate of thousands of students who had completed the courses from these unrecognized institutes was in jeopardy as their degrees would not be recognized anywhere. 
• Hence the granting of retrospective permission had become a necessity.

Question:

Q. With an aim to protect the interest of the students who had completed courses from unrecognized institutes the Parliament has given its approval to which bill?
a. National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018
b. National Cabinet for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018
c. National Committee for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018
d. None of the above