Review of NCERT Text Books

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)regularly reviews its textbooks on the basis of feedback/inputs received from the field/teachers/experts in all curriculum areas for the reprint version of the textbooks. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) prescribes textbooks prepared by the NCERT for classes IX to XII.

The matter of inclusion of cartoons under dispute in the NCERT’s textbooks was raised in the Parliament by some Hon’ble members. The Minister of Human Resource Development assured the House on 11.05.2012 to set up a Committee to review not just the cartoons but the content of these textbooks as well. NCERT set up a committee headed by Prof. S. K. Thorat on 14.05.2012 to review the NCERT Political Science Textbooks for Classes IX-XII from the point of view of identifying educationally inappropriate material. The Committee submitted its report on 27.06.2012. The report was processed by the NCERT for the consideration of the National Monitoring Committee (NMC), constituted to oversee the syllabi and textbooks developed by the NCERT in the light of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. Based on the recommendations of the Textbook Development Committee (TDC) on the subject and of the NMC, the NCERT carried out changes in the Social Science/Political Science Textbooks of classes IX to XII.

In case of any complaint regarding controversial lessons/parts in NCERT textbooks, the Government refers the matter to the NCERT. The NCERT places the complaint before the TDC for its comments. The NMC takes a final decision on whether any modification is to be made in the content of the NCERT textbooks and if so, then what modification is to be made based on the comments of the TDC and the NCERT. The NCERT annually updates the contents of its textbooks and also undertakes a periodic review of the content of the textbooks.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. Shashi Tharoor in Lok Sabha 12.12.12