NCERT launches web portal to ease supply of textbooks
NEWDELHI: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) launched a web portal on Wednesday that will enable schools to place orders for their books online.
Very soon, individual buyers will also be able to place their orders by logging onto the portal and books will be delivered at their doorstep.
“The move will help parents save money spent on sourcing expensive books from private publishers, often due to nonavailability of NCERT books. We are not making NCERT books compulsory, but we will ensure they are available to students,” said Anil Swarup, school education secretary, human resource development (HRD) ministry.
Officials said NCERT was also exploring the option of having Flipkart and Amazon host its books and deliver them too to streamline the process further.
“Amazon had approached us and talks are on with them and others too. A final decision will be taken soon,” said a senior official.
E-commerce sites, which deliver general books free of cost, levy steep delivery charges on NCERT books. Officials said work on the payment gateway is underway, which will allow individuals to order books and make the payment. HT had first reported about the NCERT online portal on June 11.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which has over 19,000 schools affiliated to it, has sent a letter to them, asking them to register and place their demands for the academic session 2018-19. They have been given time till September 8 to submit the requirement.
“On the basis of indent placed by the affiliated schools on NCERT portal, the council will supply textbooks for all classes through its empanelled distribution vendors spread over across the country. Heads of the schools may raise one time requirements of books to enable NCERT to make appropriate planning for printing of books,” said CBSE chairman RK Chaturvedi.
The portal was launched by minister of state for human resource development Upendra Kushwaha.
It has also been decided that CBSE will not publish any book from now on. The books that will be published for next year will carry all the corrections, updations and additions, including chapters on demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax.