NCERT textbooks to be reviewed

Govt to decide if they can be made mandatory

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) will review the quality of the NCERT textbooks in June to decide if they can be made mandatory for Classes 1 to 12 in all the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools from the next academic session beginning 2018.

It will also assess the NCERT’s capacity to publish and supply the textbooks as the demand for them would go much higher if the CBSE makes it mandatory for all of its schools to use the NCERT publications in their classes.

 “We made it voluntary for the CBSE schools to use NCERT textbooks in their classes this year. I am happy that more than 2,000 schools shared the indent and textbooks were supplied to them on their demand. So, the process has began. We will review the NCERT in the next two months and then decide,” Javadekar told reporters here on the sidelines of an event.

The minister was replying to a question on the reports about the CBSE making it mandatory for its schools to use NCERT textbooks in their classes.

“There have been complaints from the parents that they have to pay exorbitant prices to purchase school textbooks (of private publishers) for their wards. Good and affordable books should be made available to students. There should not be any kind of loot,” he added.

Javadekar had recently told the Rajya Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament that the ministry would make efforts to increase the number of schools introducing the NCERT textbooks in their classes from next year.