IGNOU denotes “Indira Gandhi National Open University” and it was established in the year 1985 on the 20th of September by an Act of Parliament with the following objectives:

• Development and promotion of distance education in India.

• To become an apex body in setting and maintenance of standards in distance education.

• To offer requirement-based educational courses by giving vocational and professional orientation to the courses.

• To offer access to high quality education to all irrespective of formal qualifications, region and age.

School of Education functioning under IGNOU:

School of Education is one among the different schools functioning under IGNOU and this school was established by the university to undertake educational activities pertaining to different branches of education and different aspects of practicing education as a profession. The school offers a wide range of courses and some of the details regarding the Bachelor of Education course (B.Ed) are given below:

Bachelor of Education (B.Ed):

The aim of this course offered by this esteemed university is to develop the competencies and understandings needed for practicing teachers for the effective teaching-learning process at the secondary level. The course offers opportunities of sharing experiences acquired by practicing teachers and it also enables teachers who are in service right now to choose and organize learning experiences gained by them. The B. Ed course extends to a period of two years; however the university allows candidates to complete the course within a period of maximum 4 years. The course is being offered both in English and in Hindi medium.

Eligibility for B. Ed Admission:

Education:

To apply for the B. Ed course, teachers who are in service with UG or PG degree with not less than 50% of marks are eligible. Relaxation of 5% of marks in qualifying examination is applicable for SC/ST/OBC Candidates as per Government norms.

Experience:

Candidates must have two years full-time experience in teaching on permanent or temporary basis as PG/graduate/primary teacher in a senior secondary/higher secondary/primary school with registration number as approved by any Union Territory or state or central government of India. It is essential for them to submit experience certificates issued by the Headmistress/headmaster or principal of the institution for which they are working/worked as teachers.

Admission Procedure to B. Ed course:

Admission of students to the B. Ed course will be done regional centre-wise based on the score of candidates in the all-India level B. Ed Entrance Examination conducted by the university. To apply for the entrance examination, candidates will have to fill up the application form, which is offered along with the prospectus for the course. After submission of application, candidates meeting the eligibility requirements will be issued with the hall ticket for the entrance examination 10 days before the date of written examination. If a candidate has not received his/her hall ticket even before 3 days of the test, they can download the hall ticket from the website of IGNOU at www.ignou.ac.in and should report to the examination centre for appearing to the test. Admission prospectus for B. Ed course can be obtained from regional centres on payment of Rs.500 and Rs.550 through post.

Pattern of B. Ed Entrance Test:

Admission to B. Ed course offered by IGNOU is done purely based on entrance examination. The B. Ed Entrance Examination will be conducted for a 100 marks in total and there will be 100 questions in the paper divided as follows:

• Section I – General English Comprehension - 10

• Section II – Logical and Analytical Reasoning – 20

• Section – III - Education and General Awareness  - 25

• Section – IV - Teaching Learning and the School - 25

• Section V – Any one subject from the following subjects – 20

o Science

o Mathematics

o Social science

o English

o Hindi