Nearly 3,000 teacher colleges lose recognition, barred from new admissions in 2025-26

Nearly 3,000 teacher education institutions (TEIs) across India have lost their recognition after failing to submit mandatory performance appraisal reports (PARs) for two consecutive academic years, 2021–22 and 2022–23, despite repeated extensions and show-cause notices issued earlier this year.

The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), the statutory body overseeing teacher training standards, confirmed that 2,962 TEIs have been derecognized and will not be allowed to admit students for the 2025–26 academic session.

Students already enrolled up to 2024–25 will be allowed to complete their programs.

“These colleges did not submit their PARs despite being given a two-times extension and did not reply to show-cause notices. If we find that more TEIs are violating our rules and regulations, we will also take actions against them in the future. We want to ensure quality of education in TEIs in line with National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 provisions,” said Harish Chandra Singh Rathore, who chaired the expert committee overseeing the process.

The requirement to submit PARs was introduced in September 2019 to enforce compliance with academic standards. Institutions are required to provide faculty qualifications, financial statements, geo-tagged records, and other documents to remain in good standing.

After granting multiple extensions, NCTE set Dec 30, 2024, as the final deadline. Institutions that failed to respond were issued notices in March and April 2025, and derecognition orders followed in April and May.

According to NCTE, recognition was withdrawn under Section 17 of the NCTE Act, 1993, which allows for cancellation when institutions violate rules.

Consequences include halted admissions, loss of course validity, and cancellation of affiliations.

Of the derecognized TEIs, the highest number — 1,225 — are in the Northern region, followed by 960 in the Southern region, 748 in the Western region, and just 29 in the Eastern region.

Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for 1,059 institutions, over 37% of the national total.

In the South, Tamil Nadu (361) and Karnataka (224) recorded the most cases. Maharashtra leads in the West with 571 institutions derecognized, while West Bengal tops the East with 18.

“We have been running the Bachelor of Education (BEd) course since 2002. This is the first time that our college has been recognized by NCTE. We could not fill PAR on time. We are discussing with our academic staff on ways to appeal the NCTE order,” said Rakesh Mani Tripathi, principal of Dr Ram Prasanna Maniram Singh Mahavidyalaya in Ayodhya.

“We have been running the BEd course since 2016–17, but NCTE has derecognized our college this year. The management committee of the college is deliberating on the future course of action to appeal against the NCTE order,” said Shad Khan, manager of Choudhary Bashir Khan Mahavidyalaya in Meerut.

NCTE has advised affected institutions that they may file an appeal under Section 18 of the NCTE Act, 1993, within 60 days from the date of the notice. Appeals must be submitted online through the NCTE portal.

“The aggrieved persons of derecognized TEIs can present their documents in front of the appeal committee functioning under various regional committees of NCTE. The appeal committee will review their documents and take decisions accordingly,” Rathore said.

India currently has 20,454 recognized TEIs, with the highest number in the Northern Region (8,120), followed by the Western (4,928), Southern (4,757), and Eastern (2,649) regions.