A parliamentary standing committee has raised serious doubts about the practical viability of the teacher-specialisation proposals in the Draft NCTE Regulations, 2025. It recommends the central government revisit the plan, citing conflicts with state recruitment norms.

The eight-page report, tabled in Parliament on August 8, calls for better alignment with state systems and cautions that the suggested structure separating pre-primary to Class 2 teachers from those handling Classes 3 to 5 is out of step with most state hiring protocols.

Rather than scrapping the long-standing four-year Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed.) degree from the 2026–27 session in favour of the Integrated Teacher Education Programme (ITEP), the panel recommends modernising the B.El.Ed. curriculum, broadening its institutional reach, and safeguarding the well-established faculty and facilities especially within women’s colleges.

Noting that education is a subject on India's Concurrent List, the committee emphasises the need to respect the federal structure by involving states deeply in any reform. Doing so, they argue, will help avert legal disputes.

It also notes that many teacher education institutions (92%) are privately run and often lack adequate infrastructure and faculty, potentially compromising the quality of multidisciplinary ITEP delivery. To counter this, the panel proposes establishing at least one robust public-sector multidisciplinary TEI in each district.

While ITEP has expanded rapidly, initiated in 2023–24 across 57 TEIs and now offered by multiple central and state universities, NITs, IITs, and colleges via admissions through NTA's NCET, the committee urges caution. They say the accelerated rollout and future specialisations like ITEP Yoga, Physical Education, Sanskrit, and Art Education (planned from 2026–27) might outpace the capacity to maintain educational standards.