New Panel To Revise NCERT Textbooks, Syllabus Includes Sudha Murty, Bibek Debroy, Shankar Mahadevan

NCERT has formed a committee, comprising prominent individuals such as Sudha Murthy, Chair of Infosys Foundation, singer Shankar Mahadevan, and economist and member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Sanjeev Sanyal, tasked with finalizing curriculum, textbooks, and learning materials for classes 3 to 12.

The National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), comprising 19 members, will be led by MC Pant, Chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), as per an internal communication from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), seen by HT.

This committee's objective is to align the curriculum with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), formulated by the K Kasturirangan-led steering committee as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Although the final NCF-SE has been submitted to the Union Ministry of Education, its public release is pending. The draft version of the framework was released in April.

According to the communication, the NSTC will be authorized to develop the syllabus, teaching, and learning materials for classes 3 to 12. Additionally, it will focus on "appropriately revising" existing textbooks for classes 1 and 2 to ensure a seamless transition to the NCF. The NCERT will publish and distribute the textbooks and learning materials developed by the NSTC.

The committee is co-chaired by Manjul Bhargav, a mathematics professor at Princeton University. Its members include mathematician Sujatha Ramdorai, badminton player U Vimal Kumar, MD Srinivas, Chairperson of the Centre for Policy Studies, and Chamu Krishna Shastry, Chairperson of Bhartiya Bhasha Samiti.

A senior ministry official explained that experts from various fields have been selected as committee members. The chairperson will establish Curriculum Area Groups (CAGs) by involving subject experts to assist the NSTC in developing textbooks and learning materials for each subject outlined in the syllabus.

To facilitate the functioning of NSTC, NCERT has formed a National Oversight Committee (NOC), headed by Jagbir Singh, Chancellor of Central University of Punjab. The NOC will provide comprehensive guidance to NSTC members and CAGs, ensuring alignment of textbooks, syllabus, and teaching materials with NCF-SE.