Appendix-13

Norms and Standards for B.Ed. (Open and Distance Learning System)

1.                  Course Title – Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.)

2.                  Institutions offering the course

The course will be offered only by the Open Universities or Directorates of Distance / Correspondence Education of the Universities.

3.                  Jurisdiction

Each University will admit only those candidates who are working in schools located in the territorial jurisdiction assigned to it by The University Act.

4.                  Duration and  intake

(i)                24 months excluding time taken for admission.

(ii)              Number of Seats – The basic unit of B.Ed. through distance mode shall comprise 500 seats.  However, a university may have additional seats in multiples of 100 subject to the maximum intake restricted to 1000 seats provided it makes available additional faculty and other instructional facilities as per norms. 

Provided that the above ceiling in intake capacity may be relaxed on merit by the council for universities having juridication over more than one state.

5.                  Eligibility and Admission Criteria

Teachers  serving in a recognised school with a Bachelor’s degree and having at least 2 years experience are eligible for admission to the course.

The university shall develop a suitable procedure for the selection of candidates.

There shall be reservation of seats for SC/ST/OBC, handicapped, women etc. as per the rules of the concerned government.

6.                  Course Development and Delivery

The learning material for the B.Ed. course shall consist of print, non-print (multi media, audio-video/electronic) self-learning materials.    Information and communication technology should be extensively used as a mode of delivery to improve interactivity. The university shall create a two/three tier mechanism for curriculum transaction.

The nodal tier will be at the headquarters of the university and the second/third tiers will be Regional Centres/Study Centres.

7.                  Facilities in the Headquarters

(a)              Faculty at the Headquarters

(i)                 For an intake of 500 students or less the minimum core faculty for the course at the Headquarters will comprise one Professor, one Reader and four Lecturers. 

(ii)               For every additional intake of 100 students or part thereof there shall be one additional full time faculty member or two part time faculty members. 

(iii)             Appointment of teachers shall be so distributed as to ensure the required nature and level of expertise for all teaching methodology courses and foundation courses.

(iv)              A university offering both B.Ed. (500 seats) and M.Ed. (150 seats) shall have the core faculty strength of one Professor, two Readers and six Lecturers.

(v) Administrative & other non-teaching staff essential for smooth running of the course shall be provided at the Headquarters.

(b)              Qualifications of Teaching Staff

*            Professor/Head

i)                   Academic and professional qualification will be as prescribed for the post of lecturer.

ii)                 Ph. D. or equivalent published research work.

iii)               At least, ten years’ experience in teacher education, preferably in  distance education.

*            Reader

i)                    Academic and professional qualifications will be as prescribed   for the post of lecturer.

ii)                  Ph. D. in Education or in a school subject or equivalent published research work.

iii)                At least, five years experience as lecturer in teacher education, preferably in distance education.

            *                        Lecturer

Good academic record with M.Ed./M.A. (Education) with 55% marks.

Or

Good academic record with Master’s Degree with 55% marks in the relevant school subject and M.Ed./M.A. (Education) with 50% marks.

            Notes :

(i)                 A relaxation of 5% may be provided from 55% to 50% of the marks, at the Master’s level for the SC/CT Category.

(ii)               Apart from the qualifications prescribed above, the candidates shall be required to have such other qualifications as may be prescribed by other regulatory bodies like the UGC, DEC etc.

c)                 Physical Infrastructure

Rooms/cabins for faculty members, computer room, material production centre, store rooms, office rooms, conference room  and facilities such as audio-video studio for courseware development should be provided.

d)                 Library

There shall be a library equipped with text and reference books on teacher education, educational encyclopaedia, year-books, electronic publications, CD ROMs and journals on teacher education, distance education etc.

8.                  Study Centres

a)     Study centres shall be located only in teacher education institutions offering regular B.Ed. programme which have been recognized by the NCTE.

b)     Maximum number of students enrolled through a study centre shall not exceed 100 in a batch.

c)     The principal or a senior member of the institution shall be appointed as the Coordinator.  One faculty member of the institution shall be appointed as the Assistant Co-ordinator.  Supporting staff required for smooth running of the programme will be provided in the Study Centre.  The remuneration to be paid to the Co-ordinator/Assistant Co-ordinator and the supporting staff will be fixed by the University.

9.                  Academic Inputs

a)     Materials

Self-learning print and non-print courseware designed and developed as per DEC norms will be made available to the  students.

b)     Contact Programmes

A minimum of 300 contact hours including two compulsory contact programmes (workshops) each of 2 weeks’ duration evenly spread throughout the course shall be arranged in the Study Centre for each student.  The contact programmes will be conducted by teacher educators from the university/training colleges.

The maximum number of students in a contact class shall be fifty.

c)     Teaching Practice

Each student shall teach at least 40 lessons (20 in each subject) in a upper primary(middle)/secondary/senior secondary school, out of which at least 10 lessons (5 in each subject) shall be supervised by the teacher educators and 20 lessons (10 in each subject) by the mentors.

d)    Evaluation

Formative and summative evaluation will be conducted in all curricular and co-curricular areas of the course.  It will be ensured that regular feedback based on evaluation of assignment, practicals, and other assessments is given to each student.

e)    Student Support Services

                        * Use of library of the institution will be made available to the students of the course.

                        * Facilities for accessing non-print learning materials such as internet/television/VCR/OHP etc. will be made available at the Study Centres.

                        * Mentoring support to the students shall be provided at the Study Centres.

f)    Monitoring and supervision

In order to ensure smooth transaction of learning activities and proper functioning of Study Centres regular monitoring will be conducted by the core faculty at the Headquarters.

10.             Fee Structure

The tuition fee and other fee shall be charged at rates as prescribed by the University/ the concerned Government.

11.             Pre-requisites for applying for grant of recognition of the programme

Before applying to the NCTE for grant of recognition for starting B.Ed. (Distance Education Mode) the university should have accomplished the following tasks :

1.                 Preparation of curriculum and syllabi including scheme of examination.

2.                 Preparation of print and non-print courseware.

3.                 Identification of study centres and schools for teaching practice.

4.                 A certificate from DEC that the course material have been designed and developed as per DEC norms.