CBSE students everyday come across NCERT books for almost all subjects. The last thing that occurs to anyone while flipping through the pages of these text books is ‘to think about NCERT Delhi- as the organization behind the books’! In this article I attempt to take you through a ride that will introduce the various aspects of the organization and try to showcase the vastness of its services.
NCERT Delhi has been working for over for over 48 years in line with its endeavour to provide students with quality educational material. NCERT Delhi was set up by Government of India as an autonomous organization for advising and assisting Central and State Governments on policies and programme related matters in the field of school education.
At present the NCERT Delhi has a host of departments and units, each of which perform their specialized functions. There is a department each for areas such as Elementary Education, Teacher Education, Arts and Aesthetic, Science & Maths, Social Studies & Humanities. The department of Educational Psychology and Foundations of Education under NCERT Delhi conducts an international level counselor training course in addition to undertaking psychological testing and other activities. Interestingly, the NCERT Delhi also has specialized departments that are dedicated to the Special Needs group and to Women’s Studies! As you can guess, the department responsible for your school textbooks—the Publication department—is only one of the several departments housed within the NCERT!
From the time that it was set up to the present, a period of over four decades, has witnessed NCERT Delhi diversifying into various areas within the field of education. Apart from formulating policies and publishing NCERT Text Books, NCERT Delhi also publishes other material like journals, recreational books for children and non-curriculum based educational books. The National Talent Search Exam conducted by NCERT Delhi is very popular amongst school students. NCERT Delhi also prepares the curriculum for CBSE schools across the world, conducts periodic educational surveys and teacher training workshops. So you see, NCERT really does a lot more than just publishing your text books!
As per the recommendations of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, NCERT Delhi has taken a paradigm shift from a ‘teacher-centric’ design to a ‘learner-centric’ flexible process. Under this shift, efforts are also made by NCERT Delhi to take learning beyond the four walls of the classroom into a wider social context. As a result a host of innovative changes have been introduced in the NCERT text books. Features like ‘Activity and Project’, ‘Did you knows’, quizzes etc are some initiatives in that direction. Changes like these have given a fresh lease of life to the previously ‘not so interesting’ NCERT text books.
So the next time you open your NCERT text books, it will probably be easier for you to appreciate the team effort by the various departments in the organization towards making your school years fruitful.
No comments:
Post a Comment