What happened: NCERT aligned school curricula with NEP 2020 and rolled out new materials for Grades 1–9

NCERT developed and released two National Curriculum Frameworks aligned to National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: NCF-FS 2022 (National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage) and NCF-SE 2023 (National Curriculum Framework for School Education). These frameworks are described as the basis for stage-wise and subject-wise curricular goals, competencies, learning outcomes, syllabi, textbooks, pedagogy, and assessment. As a follow-up, NCERT created committees to develop new teaching-learning material and textbooks, and released new syllabus and textbooks for Grades 1–9 along with learning resources “Jaadui Pitara” and “e Jaadui Pitara” for Balvatika 1, Balvatika 2, and Balvatika 3.

Background and earlier position: How NCERT prepared the NCFs through bottom-up consultations

For developing the National Curriculum Frameworks, NCERT constituted a National Steering Committee and followed a bottom-up approach. The process involved inputs from multiple stakeholder categories across States and Union Territories, including teachers, parents, students, educational institutions, neo- and non-literate participants, subject experts, scholars, and Anganwadi personnel. The process included public consultations in both face-to-face and digital modes. The PIB communication also attributes large-scale participation to citizen-centric surveys and state-level surveys through mobile apps, plus district-level and university/civil society consultations.

What changed now: Institutional committees translated NCF perspective into syllabi and textbooks

After releasing the NCFs, NCERT constituted a National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC). NSTC set up 13 Curricular Area Groups (CAGs) and Textbook Development Teams (TDTs) for all subjects and grades. NSTC was assigned the task of developing teaching-learning material, including textbooks. NCERT also constituted a National Curriculum Framework Oversight Committee (NOC) to check translation of NCF perspective into the new teaching-learning material, including textbooks.

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