CBSE NCERT Books Sufficient, No Private Textbooks for CBSE Schools

In a recent attempt to end the practice of schools forcing parents and students to buy textbooks other than NCERT books, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a circular to all affiliated schools asking them to refrain from doing so.

The circular has been issued by the board following a series of complaints stating that many schools have been coercing students and parents to buy textbooks other than those prescribed by the NCERT. “The board has received reports and complaints regarding the pressure exercised in many schools on children and their parents to purchase excessive number of textbooks. It was brought to our notice that parents are being forced to buy textbooks by private publishers, other than NCERT which are not not only costly but voluminous, and unscientifically designed”, states the circular.

Many teachers prefer to teach from textbooks other than NCERT books. However, all schools affiliated to CBSE are supposed to follow the syllabi prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Technology (NCERT) from classes I-VIII and syllabi prescribed by CBSE board from classes IX to XII. This has certain repercussions:

> On one hand, students are forced to study from multiple textbooks for a single subject, thus overburdening them.

> On the other hand, parents are forced to spend more money on all these extra textbooks from private publishers.

> Also, the textbooks from private publishers are not approved by the CBSE so they can have discrepancies.

> Moreover, this practice goes against the idea of standardizing the course study material across CBSE schools all over the country.

“In spite of all these initiatives, it is unfortunate that several schools are exerting pressure on children and their parents to buy an excessive number of textbooks predominantly published by publishers other than NCERT”, said D.T. Sudarshan Rao, Joint Secretary (academic & training) CBSE. He also stated that despite the board’s initiative, several schools were still found to be prescribing additional books and overburdening students and that schools have been warned against this.

The NCERT textbooks work as the base for test preparation in board examinations. Since the question papers are also set according to the syllabi given by CBSE, prescribing textbooks from private publishers to children and ultimately forcing parents to purchase those books which is not an ideal practice.

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