Parliament Question: Alignment of NCERT Syllabus with National Education Policy 2020

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3610 ANSWERED ON 10.08.2026 Alignment of NCERT Syllabus with National Education Policy 2020

3610. Shri K C Venugopal:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) the details of the steps adopted by National Council of Educational Research and Training

(NCERT) to align its syllabus with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020;

(b) the details of the process followed in deciding the academic curriculum, guidelines and learning outcomes at the NCERT;

(c) the details of the stakeholders involved in the above said process and whether there is any high- level expert committee to review the same, if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the manner and extent to which the syllabus and curriculum of NCERT textbooks is often updated? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d): As per the recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has brought out the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. These frameworks provide the basis for stage-wise and subject- wise curricular goals, competencies, learning outcomes, syllabi, textbooks, pedagogy and assessment.

For developing National Curriculum Frameworks, National Steering Committee was constituted which followed bottom -up approach of seeking inputs for the National Curriculum Frameworks from diverse stakeholders including teachers, parents, students, educational institutions, neo- and non- literates, subjects’ experts, scholars, Anganwadi personnel etc., from across the states and UTs, a massive process of public consultations in face-to-face as well as digital mode was conducted.

This process had benefited from the engagement of over 13 lakh interested citizens including students and parents at the national level through citizen-centric mobile app survey and over 1.5 lakh teachers, parents, students, and educationists at the state level through mobile app survey.

Over 1550 district-level consultations in 32 States and Union Territories were conducted. Inputs were also received from 35 groups of institutions, 8000 stakeholders who attended 12 consultationswith Universities and Civil Society Groups. More than 600 position papers on 25 specifically relevant themes written by Focus Groups constituted by the States and UTs which all together had over 4000 experts, and 25 papers from the National Focus Groups by expert groups with over 175 members, constituted by the NCERT. These inputs were analyzed and relevant suggestions were included in the NCFs. Taking cognizance of these inputs, the NCF-FS was released on 20th October, 2022 and NCF-SE was released on 23rd August, 2023.

As a follow-up of the NCFs, NCERT has constituted National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC). Under this Committee, 13 Curricular Area Groups (CAGs) and Textbook Development Teams (TDTs) for all the subjects and grades have been set up. NSTC has been assigned the task of development of teaching-learning material including textbooks. NCERT has also constituted National Curriculum Framework Oversight Committee (NOC) to look into the translation of NCF perspective in the new teaching-learning material including textbooks. NSTC, NOC and CAG include scholars, subject experts, renowned players, artists, teacher educators, faculty members of NCERT, officials from SCERTs, etc. TDT includes scholars, subject experts, teachers, teacher educators, faculty members of NCERT, faculty members from SCERTs, etc. With the support of NSTC, NCERT has brought out new syllabus and textbooks for Grades 1-9 and also a collection of learning resources- Jaadui Pitara and e Jaadui Pitara for Balvatika 1, 2, and 3.

New teaching-learning material including textbooks and learning material are developed through detailed mapping of curricular goals, competencies and learning outcomes. The drafts undergo multiple rounds of academic, pedagogical, language and sensitivity review. The review process examines academic accuracy, age-appropriateness, inclusivity, constitutional values, gender sensitivity, cultural and linguistic relevance, pedagogical suitability and alignment with NEP 2020, NCF-FS 2022 and NCF-SE 2023. As a follow-up of the NCF-SE, Learning Outcome Document and Mandate Documents were developed, which served as guidelines for the development of new syllabi and textbooks along with NCF-FS and NCF-SE.

NCERT while reprinting its textbooks, every year, updates its textbooks in alignment with the relevant feedback from students, teachers and other stakeholders, without making any structural changes. For this purpose, also, if required, NCERT invites experts for finalizing the changes.

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