Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 9: A whopping four lakh candidates have registered for the entrance test for various teacher education courses, including Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) and Master of Education (M.Ed).
The application process started April 23 and ended June 5. Candidates will be able to download their admit cards for the entrance exam to be held June 21 in 757 examination centres to be set up across the state tentatively from June 16.
The results are expected to be announced in the first week of July. Sources at the Teacher Education & State Council for Educational Research and Training (TE&SCERT) told Orissa POST that the number of candidates this year has increased by almost 30 per cent compared to last year.
According to data from the TE&SCERT department, 2,26,998 candidates will appear for the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) entrance test, while 93,250 will appear for admission into B.Ed and 1,421 for M.Ed.
Similarly, 4,557 candidates will appear for the Bachelor of Hindi Education (B.H.Ed) and 199 for the Master in Philosophy (M.Phil).
“The relaxation of norms by the Union Government has also contributed to the surge in candidates for the courses. Also seats in certain courses have been increased from this year,” said Snigdha Mishra, admission officer at TE&SCERT.
There are around 1,680 seats for B.Ed, 250 for M.Ed, 660 for D.El.Ed, 100 for B.H.Ed and 160 for M.Phil courses across different institutions in the state. “The increased seats are allotted for both general and in-service candidates. The three lakh-odd candidates will compete for the total of 2,850 seats in all courses,” said Mishra.