For the second year in a row, the new school textbooks based on the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 have been delayed. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is yet to make available new textbooks for Classes 4, 5, 7 and 8 even as the new school session begins.
For Classes 4 and 7, the new textbooks are being printed and are expected to be made available only by April 20. For Classes 5 and 8, books will be available from the end of May to the end of June, officials in the Ministry of Education told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, students in Classes 5 and 8 will begin the new academic session with a ‘bridge programme’, which includes subject-wise activities for students, with material that the NCERT has provided online. The bridge programme – lasting 30 days for Class 5 and 45 days for Class 8 – is meant to help students of these classes transition more easily to the use of new textbooks, officials in the Ministry said.
Textbooks that align with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE) 2023 are being developed for all classes, and new textbooks have already been introduced for classes 1, 2, 3 and 6. The NCERT released new textbooks for classes 1 and 2 in 2023, and for classes 3 and 6 in 2024. New textbooks for Classes 4, 5, 7 and 8 are to be introduced from the upcoming (2025-26) academic session onwards.
Students entering classes 4 and 7 in the upcoming session would have already been familiarised with the activities and assessments that the new textbooks involve since they would have used them in class 3 and 6, for which textbooks were released last year, an official in the Ministry of Education said. The bridge programme, therefore, is now only for students in Classes 5 and 8.
NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani also said that the bridge programme is necessary before the new books are introduced to these classes.
Last year, the NCERT introduced a bridge programme for Class 6 at the beginning of the academic session, with a week-wise schedule of suggested activities. The release of some new textbooks for class 6 was delayed last year, with these books being made available only in July.
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Going by the material provided online by the NCERT for the bridge programme, the programme “provides learners with academic support for their smooth transition from the old curriculum to the new curriculum.”
“The curriculum before NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 was based on a constructivist approach. Hence, competency development had not been given much importance. However, NEP 2020 recommends competency-based education and following this, competency-based teaching-learning materials, including textbooks, are currently being developed,” it stated, adding that students in Classes 5 and 8 may need more time to understand “the new pedagogical perspective and competency-based content and exercises.”
The NCERT had set up a National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee to develop the new textbooks that align with the curriculum framework of 2023.
Meanwhile, the CBSE issued a circular last week stating that the NCERT has developed bridge programmes for Classes 5 and 8 to ensure smooth transition to the updated curricular and pedagogical approaches for students and teachers.
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