The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will deliver school textbooks to individuals at their home free of delivery charge when ordered online through its web portal.
The portal was launched in August last year and the NCERT has since delivered more than 2.5 crore books to schools, its empanelled booksellers (vendors), state governments and individuals across the country.
“The NCERT will pay the delivery charges in case of individual cases so that more people can opt for the books easily. We had discussed the matter with e-commerce websites but they were asking for more money to deliver the books,” said a senior NCERT official.
A total of 3,500 schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had registered with the NCERT and all have received the textbooks, which were recently updated for the new academic session.
Individuals, students, teachers and anyone planning to order the books online can log on to www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in.
The NCERT’s move, officials said, would save parents the extra money they usually end up paying to private publishers, often on account of non-availability of the textbooks.