Reshma Ravishanker 

Renowned author, philanthropist and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation Dr Sudha Murthy and music mastero Shankar Mahadevan are on the list of members of the high power committee appointed by the government for development of syllabus, textbooks and teacher training materials. 

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recently announced the Constitution of High-Powered Committee- The National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC).

The official notification has it that this is a follow-up of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), development of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023) was initiated with the constitution of National Steering Committee.

“The NCF-SE is now in advanced stages of development and shall act as the reference point and guiding roadmap for the syllabus and textbook developers for School Education all over the Country,” the notification reads. 

The appointed High-Powered Committee, the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) will be empowered to develop the school syllabus, textbooks, and teaching learning materials for Classes 3-12 (and to appropriately revise the existing textbooks of class 1 and 2 to ensure smooth transition from Class 2 to 3). 

M C Pant, Chancellor, National Institute of 

Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) has been appointed the chairperson of the committe while Prof Manjul Bhargava, Princeton University will be the co-chairperson. 

“The textbooks and other teaching learning materials will cover all curricular areas, and the subjects within, that are part of the NCF-SE, as also their support materials such as teacher handbooks. The textbooks and other teaching learning materials developed and finalized by the NSTC shall be published and distributed by the NCERT,” according to the notification. 

The NSTC will be free to invite other experts for advice, consultation, and support as and when required to design the syllabus. The NSTC will be assisted by a Programme Office set-up by the NCERT and NCERT shall provide all necessary expertise and support as per the needs of the NSTC.

A few members of the National Steering Committee, and the Mandate Group for the ‘National Curriculum Frameworks, and other relevant experts, shall be drawn to form the NCF Oversight Committee (NOC). 

Members: 

Members on board along with Dr Sudha Murty are, Dr. Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM, Dr. Shekhar Mande, Former DG, CSIR, Distinguished Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Prof. Sujatha Ramdorai, University of British Columbia, Canada, Shankar Mahadevan, Music Maestro, Mumbai, U. Vimal Kumar, Director, Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy, Bangalore, Prof. Michel Danino, Visiting Professor, IIT Gandhinagar, Surina Rajan, IAS (retd), Haryana, former DG, HIPA, Chamu Krishna Shastri, Chairperson, Bhartiya Bhasha Samiti, Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, EAC-PM, Dr. M.D. Srinivas, Chairman, Centre for Policy Studies,Chennai, Gajanan Londhe, Head, Programme Office, NSTC, Dr Rabin Chhetri, Director, SCERT. Sikkim, Prof. Pratyusha Kumar Mandal, NCERT, Prof. Dinesh Kumar, NCERT, Prof. Kirti Kapoor, NCERT and Prof. Ranjana Arora, NCERT

Also Read: UGC: Draft guidelines for institutional development plan released