Why doing BEd after completing BCom may not be the smart choice?

Why Schools Rarely Hire BCom-BEd Graduates

Let’s first look into how school curriculum structure works. Core commerce subjects like accountancy and business studies are introduced at the higher secondary level (Classes 11 and 12). By that time, the number of students are also reduced in comparison to Class 10. Secondary schools require a huge number of teachers for core subjects like English, maths, and science, which allows for the seamless hiring of both BA-BEd and BSc-BEd graduates. Similarly, when it comes to commerce programmes, the school does not need that many commerce teachers for a small number of students.

The secondary school usually do not have standalone commerce programmes, the BCom-BEd graduates are unwillingly excluded from most school level hiring.

The Dual Degree Trap for BCom Graduates

When BCom graduates realise their subjects are not in huge demand, they often consider applying for BA-BEd. This means they will complete their graduation twice, spending another 3 years on an undergraduate arts degree just to become eligible for general school teaching positions. Many would agree that this is not just a wastage of time, but also a delay in career  momentum.

Why BCom-BEd Does Not Fit School Hiring Patterns

Indian school systems like CBSE, ICSE or state boards structure their curriculum in a way that Class 6 to 10 subjects are generalised into science, social science, maths, and languages. The commerce subjects like accountancy, business studies and more do not come until Class 11. As BCom-BEd graduates are taught to teach secondary and senior secondary levels they are filtered out for a large number of schools which only have classes till Class 10.

The Financial and Opportunity Cost for BCom-BEd Graduates

Completing a BEd degree typically requires two years of time. If we add college tuition, private tuition, accommodation, food costs, the cost increases. Instead of two years sitting in a classroom, you could have completed internships which would have gotten you real-life professional experience, money or even a complete degree altogether like MCom or an MBA.

What BCom Graduates Should Actually do Instead

• Academic route: If you are interested in the academic path, the next step can be completing your MCom degree. This will allow you to go for exams like UGC-NET which can actually direct your career path towards assistant professorship or teach in junior colleges and undergraduate commerce departments where demand is way higher than what you were initially thinking.

• Professional courses: Learning professional skills and fulfilling the demand of the market actually helps. Skills such as finance, taxation, corporate accounting, data analytics or even completing professional certifications like CA, CMA, ACCA or financial modeling will increase your chance of securing a job in the market.

Stacking degrees one after another without understanding market demand can turn out to be a disastrous decision. While BEd is a useful degree, only if you use it at the right place, but for commerce graduates, it is often not a good idea. If you have just completed your Class 12, and if you really want to do BEd, go  for BA-BEd/ BSc-BEd; if not, it’s better to not go for BCom-BEd and go for higher studies in the same stream. Please be mindful that academic degrees are not a generic backup plan. It is always a smart choice to decide what their future academic or professional path would look like beforehand and choose the education according to that.