Patna: The state government move to hold centralised entrance test for BEd courses has helped check mushrooming of fake or dummy BEd colleges in the state.

Out of 386 institutions on the list of BEd colleges, 72 were found to be fake colleges as they have not registered with the list of institutions participating in combined entrance test being conducted by the Nalanda Open University.

Participating in the annual convocation of National Institute of Technology (NIT)-Patna at Gyan Bhavan on Sunday, governor-cum-chancellor Satya Pal Malik said the combined entrance test has helped check fake BEd colleges that were ruining students' futures. "The decision to conduct centralised admission at BEd colleges has started yielding results," Malik said.

In the first go, around 70 BEd colleges, which lacked infrastructure and adequate faculty strength, have been removed from the list of institutions.

"I knew that many of the BEd colleges were being run by influential people, but I had decided to tighten the screw on such institutions," Malik said.

The education department decided to conduct centralised admission test for BEd courses following a direction from the chancellor's office.

The Nalanda Open University was given the task to conduct admission test and it asked all BEd colleges running in the state to register with it for the admission test.

"As per the directive from the chancellor's office and the state education department, we had asked all BEd colleges to register with us," Nalanda Open University registrar S.P. Sinha said.

"Colleges were asked to upload affiliation letter from the state university they were affiliated to and a two-year recognition letter from the National Council of Teachers Education (NCTE).

"Of 386 colleges on the list, 314 submitted the affiliation letter of university and recognition letter from NCTE. Seventy-two colleges which failed to submit the letters will not be allowed to participate in the BEd entrance test."

In March, the governor had said that opening private colleges to provide BEd degree had become a thriving business in the state and that politicians were behind many of those colleges.

Candidates welcomed the decision to keep a tab on such institutions.

Navin Arya, a candidate who has applied for combined entrance test, said: "The state government's decision to check fake or dummy BEd colleges is in the larger interest of students. Earlier, BEd colleges were misguiding students on affiliation and recognition of the institutions we were applying to for admission."

The BEd combined entrance test will be held on July 15, while the last date for submitting application forms is June 19.