Brief History of the Institution
Khalsa College of Education, Amritsar is a Premier Teacher Education Institution. It has its roots in the main Khalsa College, Amritsar (Estd. 1892). Khalsa College Complex is not merely an educational institution, but also a historical monument. It is a rare example of Indian classical architecture of the World, designed by the famous architect, Bhai Ram Singh. He planned the main building in `I-E’ shape that represented an amalgam of four architectural patterns which are Gothic, Rajput, Mughal and Sikhs.

Today the College building has become a subject of interest for archaeological society of the state and country.  Khalsa College of Education, is housed in a magnificent building, which was then known as “Patiala House”. It was a gift from His Highness Maharaja Rajinder Singh Mahindar Bahadur, The Ruler of Patiala, on his coronation on October 23, 1890.

The history of Khalsa College is practically the history of renaissance among the Sikhs. This college was founded by the Sikhs at the fag end of the 19^th century to curve the growth of religious conversions of the Sikhs by the Christian rulers.The onslaught of the Western Culture and ideas that followed in the wake of the British Annexation of Punjab, weaned the people away from their own traditions, culture and heritage. The D.A.V. movement started by the Arya Samaj and Aligarh movement proved as a prelude to the Sikhs to start this college for educating the Sikh masses. The “Singh Sabha Movement” was established in 1873 in order to restore Sikhism to its pristine purity, edit and pubish religious books and enkindle a spirit of religious commitment in the minds of the Sikhs. In the educational field, it yielded the finest result in the rearing up of the great edifice of Khalsa College and all that it stands for.

The main objective of Khalsa College was to spread amongst the Sikhs Modern Education, Science and Technology on Western lines so that the students were kept abreast of the times. Various departments were opened keeping in view this point. In 1954, a B.T. Department was opened to highlight the importance of educating would be teachers. The B.T. department was shaped into a full fledged College of Education in 1959. Initially, there were two units of 100 B.T. students. Subsequently, one unit of J.B.T. and two more units of B.Ed. students were added. In 1969, the J.B.T. class was taken over by the State Govt. It was shifted to J.B.T. Centre, Verka.

Khalsa College of Education enjoys a unique and prestigious position in the field of education. To achieve greater heights, M.Ed. class was added in 1969-70. It is functioning satisfactorily till today and has provided many teacher educators to this region. In the year 1987-88, G.N.D.U. started M.Phil (Education) class in this college. This had to be discontinued in 1995-96 with a plea that M.Phil was irrelevant with the introduction of National Eligibility Test for the recruitment of college teachers. In the year 1991-92, the college took another progressive step and started one year  N & E Course, with graduation as the basic qualification. As the State Govt. did not recognize this course equivalent to B.Ed. it had to be discontinued in the session 1994-95.

At present, the college has 200 B.Ed , 25 M.Ed  and 40 PGDCA (T.E.) students. Research facility for Ph.D(Edu.) is also available. At present about one dozen researchers are doing Ph.D in Education, under the supervision of Dr. J.S.Dhillon, Dr. J. S.Walia, Dr.(Mrs.) Praveen Thukral and Dr. (Mrs.) Jeewan Jyoti Sadana.  The college is planning to start regular coaching classes for  UGC/ NET/ JRF  eligibility test and  M.Phil in Education from the next academic session. It is a matter of Pride that Khalsa College of Education is the first institution in the Northern Region, which has been recognized by N.C.T.E and accepted as Nodal Institution for the North zone. National council of Teacher Education has also made  this college  a Master coordinating  college for conducting  Information Communication  Technology Camps in Punjab and neighbouring states. In future, this college will act as  Multimedia Development and Research center of N.C.T. E.

            During the last 50 years, the college has produced thousands of teachers and teacher educators who are serving the cause of education not only in India but through out the world. This institution is the nursery of Vice Chancellors, Principals, Educationists, Scholars, Researchers, Administrators etc who have brought laurels to this institution by dint of their administrative acumen and hard work. As a part of celebration of Golden Jubilee the college has started the publication a Journal of Education – Education : New Horizons, published a Directory of Old Students Association of the College and hold an International Conference of All India Association for Educational Research (AIAER) on Research Issues in Education for Peace and Development in March 20-21-22, 2003. This will be a year of Action and Quality Education with the objective ‘Sky is the Limit’.

            To achieve excellence, new networkings of the resources have come-up. In this context the college has already planned to add off-line and on-line digital resources and to update the existing infrastructure so that a perfectly conducive learning environment may be created.

Let us rededicate ourselves to the noble cause of teaching learning process and contribute generously towards achieving excellence.