Bhubaneswar: Amid allegations of private schools in many states mandating expensive books from specific publishers, school and mass education minister Nityananda Gond on Saturday said private schools in Odisha should ensure sale and use of only NCERT books.
NCERT books are aimed at standardising education, and mandating books from other publishers will defeat the purpose, he said. “Charging parents an excess amount in the name of education materials will not be allowed. If such allegations against any school are received, strict action will be taken against it,” said Gond, while speaking to mediapersons here.
He said all govt schools will receive their quota of new textbooks during the summer vacation. After implementation of the National Education Policy-2020, the syllabus was changed and new books are currently under production, he said. “Students of around 50% of the schools have received the new books and the rest will get them during the summer vacation,” he added.
After implementing the NEP-2020, the state govt put in place a revised curriculum that was developed in accordance with the Odisha State Curriculum Framework and NEP-2020. Under it, the govt decided to introduce 55 new textbooks from Class 1 to Class 8 as per the revised syllabus from the 2026-27 academic year. The textbooks have been translated and contextualised from NCERT materials to reflect the State’s local perspective, culture and heritage.
Diana Sahu is an Assistant Editor with the Times of India. With a...
Read MoreDiana Sahu is an Assistant Editor with the Times of India. With a professional career spanning nearly two decades, she has been writing extensively on education, livelihood, child rights, gender, heritage & culture, tourism and disability rights. She is also known for her data-driven investigative reports and compelling human interest stories.
Her in-depth story on 'Women in Higher Education' had won her the Best Feature Award at the Laadli Media Awards and a Laadli National Fellowship on 'Gender and Disability'. She had also received WNCB Fellowship on Child Rights.
Apart from her core reporting interests, she loves documenting the many aspects of Odisha's culture and heritage. She tweets at @DiannaSahu.
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