NCERT notifies panel for social science textbooks; final draft by February 10

NEW DELHI: As a follow-up to the National Curriculum Framework for school education, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has formed a panel to develop the social science syllabus and teaching-learning material for Classes 6 to 12.

The 35-member panel headed by Michel Danino, a teacher at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar and a former member of the Indian Council of Historical Research, will prepare curriculum and books for subjects like history, geography, political science, sociology and psychology. This panel, notified by the NCERT on November 10, will also coordinate with the preparatory stage curriculum area group (CAG) to ensure continuity with curriculum designed for Classes 3 to 5.

The panel will be responsible for developing textbooks, activity books, and workbooks for integrated social science for Classes 6 to 10 and teaching learning material for history, geography, political science and psychology for Classes 11 and 12 as mandated under the NCF-SE. The NCERT notified the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) on July 21.

In addition, the group will also prepare a teacher’s handbook for integrated social science and subject-specific for higher classes. The teaching-learning material will be prepared in Hindi, English and Urdu.

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NCERT Textbooks: Interdisciplinary curriculum

To maintain interdisciplinarity in the curriculum, the panel will also coordinate with CAG working on economics teaching and learning material. “Both the CAGs- Social Science and Economics will ensure this integration by sharing and discussing drafts of material prepared with each other.” the notice said.

The panel will be required to integrate cross-cutting themes, namely, those with respect to equity and inclusion, age-appropriate pedagogy, innovative pedagogy and value education, Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), and environment education.

The 35-member panel includes economist Sanjeev Sanyal; former Delhi University teacher Meenakshi Jain; head of Centre for Historical Studies, School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Heeraman Tiwari; historian Tripurdaman Singh from the Graduate Institute, Geneva among others. Vinayachandra Banavathy, director of the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems at Chanakya University, Bengaluru is also part of the panel.

The social sciences curriculum panel is expected to submit the first draft of the school syllabus by November 25 and the first draft of textbooks will be expected by January 24, 2024. The syllabus and the textbooks will be reviewed by the NSTC and NCERT before finalisation. The final draft, according to the NCERT, will be submitted by February 10 after which it will be placed before other curriculum groups to ensure interdisciplinary nature of the books and syllabus.