Congress has accused the Union government of obstructing children’s education due to delays in finalizing and printing Class 6 textbooks. According to Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has not yet published new textbooks for Science, Mathematics, and Social Sciences despite the school year having started. Ramesh also criticized the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), claiming that syllabi and textbooks are still pending finalization, necessitating an additional 10 to 15 days for printing.
Ramesh further stated that officials anticipate a delay of up to two months before the textbooks are available to students. While Class 3 textbooks have been released, only English and Hindi textbooks are currently available for Class 6 in the middle of the academic session. The Ministry of Education (MoE) had established the NSTC last July with a mandate to develop new textbooks for Classes 3 to 12, aiming for completion by February.
However, the NSTC decided to only revise textbooks for Classes 3 and 6 initially. An MoE official mentioned that new textbooks for Grades 3 and 6 are nearing completion, with nine already available and the remaining eight expected soon.
Jairam Ramesh criticized the delay, highlighting that NCERT has not yet received drafts for the new Social Science, Mathematics, and Science textbooks for Class 6 from the NSTC. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently reviewed progress on school textbooks under the New Curriculum Framework during a meeting on Thursday.