National Council of Educational Research and Training

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NCERT Logo

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT, Hindi: राष्ट्रीय शैक्षिक अनुसंधान और प्रशिक्षण परिषद), established in 1961, is an organisation set up by the Government of India, with headquarters located at Sri Aurbindo Marg in New Delhi, to assist and advise the central and state governments on academic matters related to school education. Dr Hrushikesh Senapathy was official appointed as new Director of NCERT in September 2015.

History

The Government of India's Ministry of Education resolved on 27 July 1961 to establish the National Council of Educational Research and Training, which formally began its operation on 1 September 1961. The Council formed by merging seven existing institutions of the National Government including the Central Institute of Education (1947), the Central Bureau of Textbook Research (1954), the Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance (1954), the Directorate of Extension Programmes for Secondary Education (1958), the National Institute of Basic Education (1956), the National Fundamental Education Centre (1956), and the National Institute of Audio-Visual Education (1959).

Objectives

National Council for Indian Education (NCIE) and National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) are two different concerns. Among the top priorities of NCERT are:

1. Implementation of National Curriculum Framework
2. Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE)
3. Vocational education
4. Education of groups with special needs
5. Early childhood education
6. Evaluation and examination to reform IT education
7. Competitive Value education
8. Education of girl child
9. Production of teaching-learning experience
10. Improvement in teacher education
11. Improvement of thought of student

Actions

NCERT has comprehensive extension programme in which departments of the National Institute of Education (NIE), Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Central Institute of Vocational Education (CIVE) and offices of the Field Advisers in the states are engaged in activities. Several programmes are organised in rural and backward areas to reach out to functionaries in these areas.

It acts as the Secretariat of the National Development Group (NDG) for Educational Innovations. The NCERT has been offering training facilities, usually through attachment programmes and participation in workshops, to education workers of other countries. The NCERT publishes textbooks for school subjects from Classes I to XII. NCERT publishes books & provides Sample Question Papers that are used in government and private schools across India that follow the CBSE curriculum.

Ever since its establishment, the organisation has faced a great deal of controversy and continues to do so today. The controversy centers around the charges of an attempted "saffronised" rewriting of Indian history (i.e., making lessons consonant with the Hindutva). Allegations of historical revisionism with a Hindu nationalist agenda arose in two periods: under the Janata Party government 1977 to 1980 and again under the Bharatiya Janata Party government from 1998 to 2004. In 2012, the organisation has been blamed for publishing 'offensive' cartoons against B.R. Ambedkar, the framer of the Indian Constitution and thus lodging an insult to the Constitution, in its textbooks. The controversy led to the resignation of NCERT chief advisors Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar and an apology from the government.

See also

• NCERT controversy
• Regional Institute of Education
• National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005)

External links

• NCERT Homepage
• Online Textbooks by NCERT
• NCERT Discussion Forum
• NCERT appoints its new director as Dr Hrushikesh Senapathy
• NCERT Reference Website