“There are exciting times ahead”: Jayant Chaudhary on NCERTs 64th Foundation Day

New Delhi [India], September 1 (ANI): On National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERTs) 64th Foundation Day, Union Minister Jayant Singh Chaudhary said that NCERT has charted an incredible journey from 1961 and there are exciting times ahead.

Union Minister Jayant Singh Chaudhary told ANI, “NCERT has charted an incredible journey from 1961 and there are exciting times ahead. As an institution, there are already many initiatives that have been undertaken.”

He also said that NCERT is undergoing constant reforms, including a redesigned curriculum.

“So there is a constant reform, constant churn. We have to remain at the cusp of those new changes that are happening in society, the transformative changes. As you know, the curriculum is being redesigned, new textbooks are being introduced. All those textbooks have integrated the latest technologies. They’re all energized textbooks. Also on the assessment side, some massive campaigns are done,” Chaudhary told ANI.

Chaudhary also said that the institution is actively working to enhance teaching standards.

“We are constantly engaging with the institutional framework to ensure that our teaching standards are improved. So today is the day that we celebrate our learnings over these many years and so many issues were discussed,” Chaudhary told ANI.

NCERT is an autonomous organisation set up in 1961 by the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.

The major objectives of NCERT and its constituent units are to: undertake, promote and coordinate research in areas related to school education; prepare and publish model textbooks, supplementary material, newsletters, journals and develops educational kits, multimedia digital materials, etc. Act as a nodal agency for achieving the goals of Universalisation of Elementary Education, as per NCERT official website.

In addition to research, development, training, extension, publication and dissemination activities, NCERT is an implementation agency for bilateral cultural exchange programmes with other countries in the field of school education.