The threat on the jobs of more than 16000 primary teachers of Uttarakhand was removed on Thursday with the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry issuing a notification granting retrospective recognition of the special BTC course done by them. In the gazette notification, the MHRD granted recognition in retrospection to the six month course offered by the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), government of Uttarakhand between 2001 to 2018.
In Uttarakhand, education department had appointed Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) qualified candidates as primary teachers and they were imparted an in service special BTC training in different Districts Institutes of Education and Teaching (DIETs) to make them eligible for being appointed as primary teachers. However in the year 2016 it was realised that the recognition from National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) was not taken by the education department of Uttarakhand for this course. It created a threat over the jobs of these teachers as HRD ministry had made a compulsion that after March 2019, all primary teachers who don’t have a Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd) degree or BTC certificate would be removed from post of primary teachers. However with the passage of NCTE amendment bill in parliament last year paved the way for recognition of their course in retrospection. Acting on the issue, the MHRD finally put a stamp of approval of the special BTC course of Uttarakhand on Thursday by its gazette notification.