Key Points:
NDTV's ground investigation found that some B.Ed colleges listed in official records were either missing from their registered addresses or operating from different locations.
Inspections in Bhopal reportedly found irregularities in 25 private B.Ed colleges.
Documents recovered by NDTV raised questions over the approval process after 82 B.Ed colleges were marked "OK" on the admission portal before formal Executive Council approval.
A GROUND INVESTIGATION has raised serious questions over the functioning of several B.Ed colleges in Madhya Pradesh. According to an NDTV report some of these teacher-training institutions were allegedly missing from their registered addresses and others were operating from different locations, sparking concerns over how such colleges continued to receive recognition and admit students.
The report suggests the issue is much larger than a few isolated colleges. NDTV’s investigation highlights possible gaps in inspections and verification in a sector that is essential for training thousands of future school teachers every year.
One of the most striking findings in the NDTV report came from Mugaliya Kot village near Bhopal. According to official records, Shri Ram College was supposed to be functioning from a registered plot and had reportedly been admitting students to B.Ed and integrated B.Sc-B.Ed courses for years.
However, when NDTV visited the location, it did not find any college operating there. Instead, nearby hoardings and structures displayed the names of other institutions, while local people reportedly said no college by the name of Shri Ram College functioned from that campus.
The ground report also found records linking multiple colleges to adjoining plots in the same area, raising questions over whether different institutions were using overlapping addresses. NDTV raises concerns over how inspections were conducted and whether the infrastructure shown in official records matched the situation on the ground.
A different college in Bhopal, when visited by NDTV, was found operating from within a school campus. The college management said shortcomings highlighted during inspections, including deficiencies in the library, had since been addressed and maintained that the college had faculty members and enrolled students.
Another college was not found functioning from the address listed in official records. Its management told NDTV that the institution had shifted to a new campus and that the necessary approvals for the relocation were under process. However, this itself poses a striking question about how inspections, verifications, and admissions are being monitored when the official address of the college has shifted.
The report also examined inspection records of Barkatullah University, which has, on paper, more than 120 private B.Ed colleges under its affiliation.
According to documents recovered by NDTV, inspections identified glaring discrepancies in 25 colleges. Five of them reportedly had serious irregularities, two colleges were allegedly not found at their registered addresses, while three others were found operating from locations different from those officially recorded.
Despite these findings, the university's Executive Council later allowed 125 private colleges to continue with conditional affiliation after directing them to submit notarised affidavits declaring that they complied with National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) norms.
The university reportedly warned that if future inspections found false declarations or violations, affiliations could be cancelled, students shifted to other colleges, fees recovered from the institutions concerned, and defaulting colleges blacklisted.
However, the decision has raised questions over whether colleges should have been allowed to continue admissions before the deficiencies were fully resolved.
The report also raised questions over the role of Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister Inder Singh Parmar. According to documents accessed by NDTV, the profiles of 82 B.Ed colleges were marked "OK" on the state's online admission portal after directions recorded in a note sheet linked to the minister. This allowed the colleges to become part of the admission process even before they received formal approval from the university's Executive Council.
According to the report, some members of the Executive Council objected to the move. Registrar Prof. Samar Bahadur Singh later said the 82 colleges had already been found fit during inspections. He said they were cleared first, while the remaining colleges were later placed before the Executive Council for approval.
However, Madhya Pradesh Minister Parmar rejected allegations that rules were bypassed. He told NDTV that admissions had to be completed within a fixed deadline and students should not suffer because of delays.
The NDTV report notes that Madhya Pradesh has more than 600 teacher-training institutions offering over 58,000 B.Ed seats, with nearly 47,000 to 48,000 students taking admission every year. Since most seats are in private colleges, this sector is part of a large private education market.
The Madhya Pradesh government has maintained that fresh scrutiny is underway and that action will be taken against any institution found violating norms. Whether that addresses the concerns raised by the NDTV ground investigation remains to be answered.
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