New Delhi (TIP)- NCERT has constituted a committee including author and Infosys Foundation chair Sudha Murthy, singer Shankar Mahadevan, and economist and member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Sanjeev Sanyal, to finalise the curriculum, textbooks and learning material for classes 3 to 12.
The 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) will be headed by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) chancellor MC Pant, according to an internal note of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), a copy of which has been seen by HT.
The committee will work to align the curriculum with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) developed by the K Kasturirangan-led steering committee as a part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. While the final NCF-SE has already been submitted with the Union ministry of education, it is yet to be released in the public domain. The draft of the framework was released in April.
According to the note, NSTC will be empowered to develop the school syllabus, and teaching and learning material for classes 3 to 12; it will also work on “appropriately revising” the existing textbooks of classes 1 and 2 to ensure a smooth transition to NCF. “The textbooks and other learning material developed and finalised by NSTC shall be published and distributed by the NCERT,” the note added.
The committee is co-chaired by Manjul Bhargav, a professor of mathematics at Princeton University. It’s other members include mathematician Sujatha Ramdorai, badminton player U Vimal Kumar, chairperson of Centre for Policy Studies MD Srinivas, and chairperson of Bhartiya Bhasha Samiti Chamu Krishna Shastry.
A senior ministry official said that experts from different domains have been selected as members of the committee, and that its chairperson will now constitute various Curriculum Area Groups (CAGs) by engaging different subject experts.
“ CAGs will assist NSTC to develop textbooks and learning material for each of the subjects included in the syllabus. NSTC will be free to invite other experts for advice, consultation, and support,” this person added, requesting anonymity. Chamu Krishna Shastry said that 11 CAGs will be constituted to work on the 11 domains mentioned in NCF-SE including mathematics, science, physical education, and social sciences. “More than 1,000 subject experts will be engaged in the process of curriculum development and textbook designing.”
Shastry added that the committee will aim to complete the process by the end of this academic year so that the new textbooks will be ready before the beginning of next session. To support the functioning of NSCT, NCERT has also constituted a National Oversight Committee (NOC) that will be chaired by the chancellor, Central University of Punjab, Jagbir Singh.
“NOC will provide detailed orientation to the members of NSCT and others including CAGs. It will ensure full alignment of textbooks, syllabus and teaching learning material to NCF-SE,” said a senior NCERT official who asked not to be identified.
Source: HT