New NCERT textbooks revised as per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are likely to be introduced in schools from the 2024-25 academic session. The new text books are being developed in alignment with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF). These textbooks will be available in the digital format too. Developing and releasing new textbooks is an intense task and the work on this is already ongoing.
The COVID – 19 pandemic has revealed that there is an appetite for digital learning. In accordance with these insights the textbooks will also be made available in the digital format so that interested students can download and use them. Textbooks cannot be static and need to be updated at regular time intervals. In tune with this, officials are putting in place a framework that will ensure textbooks are updated regularly.
NEP 2020 prescribes 5+3+3+4 curriculum structure and pedagogical strategy. According to the new school education system outlined in NEP 2020 children will be spending five years in the foundational stage, three years each in the preparatory and middle stages and four years in the secondary stage.
In 2020, the central government has started the process of revising the textbooks by appointing
K Kasturirangan, Former Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation, as the head of a 12-member committee tasked to develop a new NCF. The four NCFs being developed are – NCF for Early Childhood Care and Education, NCF for School Education, NCF for Teacher Education and NCF for Adult Education.
The ministry of education had launched the NCF for the foundational stage last year and according to that framework NCERT has collected and developed learning-teaching materials. Toys, puzzles, puppetry, posters, flash cards, worksheets and attractive storybooks are part of this learning-teaching kit called “Jaadui Pitara” that was earlier launched by the Ministry of Education.
