NCERT Develops New Textbooks Under NEP 2020 After Wide Consultations

States and Union Territories constituted Focus Groups involving more than 4,000 experts, who prepared over 600 position papers covering 25 themes considered relevant to school education.

NCERT has developed new syllabi and textbooks for Grades 1 to 9 under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, following a large consultation exercise involving students, parents, teachers, educationists, subject experts and other stakeholders across India. The process has also resulted in new learning resources for younger children, while textbooks are reviewed for academic accuracy, inclusivity, age suitability, constitutional values and cultural relevance before publication.

Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary shared the details in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, explaining how the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 were prepared and subsequently translated into teaching and learning materials.

Over 13 Lakh Citizens Participated in Curriculum Consultation

The National Steering Committee constituted for developing the curriculum frameworks followed a bottom-up consultation process, collecting views from teachers, parents, students, educational institutions, subject experts, scholars, Anganwadi personnel, neo-literates and non-literates across states and Union Territories.

More than 13 lakh interested citizens, including students and parents, participated at the national level through a citizen-centric mobile application survey, while another 1.5 lakh teachers, parents, students and educationists contributed through state-level surveys. More than 1,550 district consultations were conducted across 32 states and Union Territories, creating another channel for communities and education stakeholders to contribute their views.

The exercise also gathered inputs from 35 groups of institutions and around 8,000 stakeholders who participated in 12 consultations involving universities and civil society groups.

Thousands of Experts Contributed to Curriculum Frameworks

States and Union Territories constituted Focus Groups involving more than 4,000 experts, who prepared over 600 position papers covering 25 themes considered relevant to school education. At the national level, expert groups consisting of more than 175 members prepared another 25 papers through National Focus Groups constituted by NCERT.

These inputs were analysed before relevant recommendations were incorporated into the curriculum frameworks. NCF-FS was released on October 20, 2022, followed by NCF-SE on August 23, 2023, providing the foundation for stage-wise and subject-wise curricular goals, competencies, learning outcomes, syllabi, teaching methods and assessment.

New Textbooks for Grades 1 to 9 Under Revised Framework

NCERT subsequently created the National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC), along with 13 Curricular Area Groups and Textbook Development Teams covering different subjects and grades. Scholars, teachers, subject specialists, artists, teacher educators, NCERT faculty and representatives from State Councils of Educational Research and Training participate in various stages of this work.

With support from these groups, NCERT has released new syllabi and textbooks for Grades 1 to 9. It has also developed Jaadui Pitara and e-Jaadui Pitara learning resources for Balvatika 1, 2 and 3, supporting activity-based learning during the foundational years.

Textbooks Go Through Multiple Reviews Before Publication

New learning materials are prepared by mapping curricular goals with competencies and expected learning outcomes. Drafts undergo several rounds of academic, pedagogical, language and sensitivity reviews, covering areas such as factual accuracy, age appropriateness, gender sensitivity, inclusivity, constitutional values and cultural and linguistic relevance.

A National Curriculum Framework Oversight Committee examines how the broader NCF perspective is reflected in textbooks and other materials. Learning Outcome and Mandate Documents developed after NCF-SE also serve as guidelines for textbook and syllabus preparation.

NCERT continues to update textbooks during annual reprinting based on relevant feedback received from students, teachers and other stakeholders, without making structural changes during this process. Experts may also be brought in when required to examine and finalise such revisions.