National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been granted the deemed-to-be-university status by the Ministry of Higher Education on Friday, Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan said on the 63rd Foundation Day of the apex decision-making body for school education.
“NCERT has established a formidable presence in research, actively shaped school education, teacher training, and adult literacy. NCERT on becoming a research university will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape,” Mr. Pradhan said. “The deemed-to-be university status is on lines of Indian Institute of Science,” he further added.
Mr. Pradhan further said that Jadui Pitara – a play-based learning-teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3 and 8 years developed by NCERT – will come up as a instrument of change that will benefit 10 crore children entering the play-based learning system at three in anganwadis or pre-primary sections of schools, leading up to Class two.
“As many as 80% of brain development occurs by the age of 8. We need to ensure that content is made and adapted to the mother tongue, otherwise it will be of little use,” Mr. Pradhan said.
He further suggested setting up Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs in all seven regional centres of NCERT. Multinational IT company Hewlett Packard is assisting NCERT in this endeavour.
To make India the global hub of research and innovation these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure, he added. He also urged NCERT to standardize the Teachers’ training curriculum to NCERT in its Early Childhood Care and Education syllabus.
Mr. Pradhan suggested adding a chapter on evolution of Chandrayaan 3 and agreements of G-20 summit in new textbooks. He also informed NCERT will be developing educational material in all 22 languages with the help of software like Anuvadini and Bhashini.
