India must devise a mechanism to standardise textbook quality

Last year, the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry too accepted that there is no method to evaluate the quality of textbooks in the country.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is giving final shape to a new school curriculum that will shift the focus from rote learning to experiential learning. According to a report in Hindustan Times, the curriculum committee of the NCERT has decided to make textbooks thinner and school bags lighter to reduce the current workload of students. This is a welcome move because, in today’s infotech-rich environment, cramming has little utility. The more critical thing, as the NCERT itself says, is to develop the cognitive abilities of students to help them better discern and analyse what they learn. While NCERT books are mainly used by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools (most state boards use books developed by their own State-run institutions, at least till Class 8), any positive step taken by the body percolates to the state boards too, and private publishers are also known to quickly fall in line. In that sense, NCERT is the gold standard when it comes to textbooks in the country.

in a country such as India, which has large class sizes, a high proportion of unqualified teachers and a shortage of instructional time, it becomes critical to ensure that textbooks adhere to certain quality standards. (Sneha Srivastava)

Having said that, there are some states where the quality of textbooks is poor, and too many glaring mistakes crop up at regular intervals. But in a country such as India, which has large class sizes, a high proportion of unqualified teachers and a shortage of instruction time, it becomes critical to ensure that textbooks adhere to a certain standard of quality. But this does not happen because states cut corners when it comes to spending on things that impact the quality of textbooks: good authors and publishers, and a strong peer-review system. Instead, they opt for authors and publishers who have little understanding of either pedagogy or how children’s books should be written. Last year, the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry too accepted that there is no method to evaluate the quality of textbooks by private publishers in the country.