Indore: 40% Seats Vacant, Next Round Of NCTE Course Counselling Begins

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Despite the completion of three rounds of counselling, admissions in teacher education programmes such as BEd, MEd, BPEd and MPEd—recognised by National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE)—remain sluggish, with only about 60% of the available seats filled.

In response to this concerning trend, the Department of Higher Education has announced an additional round of counselling, which begins Tuesday. Students can now register and apply for their preferred NCTE-recognised courses.

Currently, there are around 65,000 seats available across various teacher education programmes, including BEd-MEd, BPE-M.P.Ed, BElEd and a part-time 3-year B.Ed course. However, so far only 40,000 seats have been filled, leaving more than 25,000 seats vacant.

According to education experts, even after seats are allotted, many students are not completing their admission by paying fees. The main reason appears to be college placements in remote areas—up to 150 km away, discouraging students from accepting the seat.

Officials also cited an unusually high cutoff—reaching up to 75%—as a reason why many students couldn't secure admission in their desired colleges. While colleges in remote regions like Dhar, Sendhwa, Alirajpur and Jhabua have seen up to 70–72% seat occupancy, urban areas such as Indore, Khargone and Khandwa have filled only about 60% of their seats.

Abhay Pandey, President of the Private Teacher Education Colleges Association and member Sunil Pandya, emphasised the low admission numbers in NCTE-recognised PG courses and noted that students are increasingly opting for courses offered by private universities instead. They further pointed out that rural colleges—despite fewer numbers—have performed better in admissions. In contrast, urban areas like Indore offer too many options, which has dispersed the student pool and led to under-enrolment.