Pradhan reviews NCERT textbook printing, pushes for timely availability

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday reviewed the development, preparation, printing and distribution of NCERT textbooks for classes 1 to 8, with special focus on Class 9 and directed officials to expedite the process to ensure their timely availability in the market.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday reviewed the development, preparation, printing and distribution of NCERT textbooks for classes 1 to 8, with special focus on Class 9 and directed officials to expedite the process to ensure their timely availability in the market. According to the Ministry of Education, Pradhan also reviewed the timelines for the development of textbooks for Classes 10, 11 and 12. Emphasising the vision of the National Education Policy 2020, the senior BJP leader said the new textbooks would shape the foundation for higher education and higher-order thinking and therefore must be developed with imagination, foresight, evidence-based understanding, ethical values, skill orientation and rootedness in the country. He further said the textbooks should reflect emerging scientific, historical and social contexts of both the present and the future. Calling them ''textbooks for the 21st century'', Pradhan said they should address the aspirations of the century and continue to influence learners across fields in the decades ahead. Responding to concerns over the demand and supply of textbooks in the market, a senior official in the Ministry of Education had said, ''We hope in the month of May we will be able to print as many numbers of books.'' The official had also said that the NCERT is endeavouring to print around 15 crore textbooks and has already printed nearly 7-8 crore books. Referring to delays in some Class 9 books, including social science (Part 1) textbooks, the official said, ''We are hoping that we should be able to print it soon so that when the children come back to school, they have the books.'' ''Writing of textbooks is not an easy job, especially when a group of people are contributing to ensure the best curriculum and content for children. Sometimes it takes time and the books get delayed,'' the official said. The official added that the endeavour would be to make textbooks for classes 10 and 11 available before the next academic session begins.