The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has issued an advisory to all NCTE-recognised institutions offering Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) for the academic session 2026-27.In the advisory, the council has made it clear that admission to the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) for four years should be done through the National Common Entrance Test (NCET) 2026, which is organized by the National Testing Agency (NTA).The guidelines follow the announcement of the NCET 2026 result, which was declared on June 4, 2026.According to the organization:
- Admission to ITEP for the 2026-27 academic year should be made through NCET 2026.
- Only the candidates who appeared for the NCET 2026, held on April 17 and 18, 2026, will be eligible for admission, subject to the eligibility criteria of the concerned institution, affiliated university, State Government and other authorities.
- After NCET 2026 results are declared, the participating institutes and universities should prepare their counseling process, admission process and merit list according to the NCET scorecards and their admission process.
- No admission should be given to any person who has not appeared for NCET 2026. The board said that any admission given in violation of these guidelines will be treated as illegal and against the accepted admission process.
- The NCTE also warned that any organization found violating these guidelines may take action as per the provisions of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993, related laws and other laws.
History
The Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) is a four-year teacher training program launched under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.According to Article 15.7 of the NEP 2020, admission to the program must be made through a suitable study and a suitable test conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). For this reason, NCET has been selected as the national single window entrance exam for admission to ITEP.NCTE has advised all the recognized institutions to follow these guidelines strictly while conducting the admissions course for 2026-27 to ensure that the admission process is fair and in accordance with the guidelines.