The full form of D.El.Ed. is Diploma in Elementary Education.

Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) programme is a specifically designed package for in-service untrained teachers working in primary/ upper primary schools of different states of the country. The programme has been developed by the Academic Department, NIOS on the initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India, keeping in view the NCF 2005, RTE 2009 and NCFTE 2010. The Programme aims at enabling the target group to develop in them skills, competencies, attitudes and understanding to make teaching and learning more effective

Diploma in Elementary Education (D.EI.Ed) is a diploma course which is of a total of 2 years and divided into four semesters. The exams are conducted for the course at the end of each of the semesters. The course has been designed to provide education to the teachers and to train them for the primary level teaching. The main aim of the course is to cover the theoretical knowledge and basic skills development in order to provide the teachers education in terms of effective teaching practices and modern classroom trends. After completing a course in diploma in elementary education, the candidates can pursue their career as a teacher in an elementary school. The minimum eligibility which is required to pursue a diploma in elementary education is to pass 12th from a recognised board or school. The admission to the course is done on the basis of merit obtained by the student in the 12th level exam and an entrance exam.