Education Ministry on Monday said the new NCERT textbooks to be introduced in secondary schools from the 2024-25 academic session has been revised in accordance with the new National Education Policy (NEP) and textbooks is to be developed in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). “The new textbooks are likely to be introduced from 2024-25 academic session. It is a tall task but we are aiming for that. The textbooks will be revised as per the new NCF, work on which is already going on. Developing textbooks is a laborious task,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Education.
All the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks developed as per the revised NCF will also be available in digital format. “Since COVID-19 has taught us that there is an appetite for digital learning, all the new textbooks will simultaneously be made available digitally so anybody can download them,” he added.
Noting that textbooks should not be “static”, the official said an institutional framework will be developed to ensure that the textbooks are updated on a regular basis.
The NEP 2020 envisages a “5+3+3+4” curriculum pedagogical structure. According to the new school education system outlined in NEP 2020, children will spend five years in the foundational stage, three years each in the preparatory and middle stages, and four years in the secondary stage.
The Centre had in 2020 started the process to revise school textbooks by appointing former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Kasturirangan as the head of a 12-member steering committee responsible for developing a new National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
The four NCFs being prepared are -- NCF for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCFECCE), NCF for School Education (NCFSE), NCF for Teacher Education (NCFTE), NCF for Adult Education (NCFAE).