Kerala approves 173 new textbooks based on state curriculum framework, not NEP

NEW DELHI: The Kerala School Curriculum Steering Committee, which is in charge of framing new textbooks as per the new curriculum framework, has approved 173 title textbooks on Tuesday. The new textbooks for Classes 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 will be printed from February. The textbooks are in Malayalam, English, Tamil and Kannada.

Kerala general education minister V Sivankutty had earlier announced that textbooks for Classes 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 will be released in 2025.

The new Kerala Curriculum Framework, modelled on the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2023 but with several significant changes, was released in October 2023.

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The state is seeing a substantial revision in the curriculum after 16 years with the last curriculum revision being in 2007, following the National Curriculum Framework 2005. Some changes to the curriculum were also introduced in 2013.

Does not follow NEP 2020

Although the curriculum committee acknowledges the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, it said that the state has focused more on democratic discussions for creating the new curriculum framework.

“The modifications in the curriculum were attempted via a popular and transparent approach. Instead of following the directions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the new framework was formed based on democratic discussions and considerations on preserving the authenticity of the state,” read a statement by the general education department.

The department also said that for the first time in the state, all textbooks will have the Preamble of the Constitution in the introduction. The illustrations in the textbooks feature drawings submitted by students from various classes.

The Kerala education department said that the textbooks for Classes 5 to 10 will focus on tourism, agriculture, information technology, textiles, and skill development to create a vocational attitude among the students. The textbooks also teach students about cleanliness, civic sense, gender justice and scientific temperament.