New Delhi. The Congress on Friday attacked the Central Government over the delay in providing new textbooks for Class VI and alleged that the Education Ministry was harming the education of children. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also said that after the inefficiency of the government’s examination agency came to light, the worse situation at the level of the Education Ministry has once again come to the fore.
On the other hand, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan reviewed the preparation of school textbooks in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) in a meeting on Thursday. This meeting was held in the backdrop of the delay in availability of class 6 textbooks which were to be taught from April. These books have not yet come to the market. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) had earlier announced that new textbooks for classes 3 and 6 would be introduced from the 2024-25 academic session.
“After damaging the examination process through the incompetent National Examination Agency, the ‘non biological’ PM’s Education Ministry is damaging our children’s education,” Jairam Ramesh posted on ‘X’. “Despite the school year starting, NCERT – National (read Nagpur) Council of Educational Research and Training – has failed to publish new textbooks for science, maths and social sciences for sixth standard students,” Ramesh said.
He said the textbooks have not been finalised by the National Curriculum and Teaching Learning Materials Committee (NSTC). Ramesh said printing would take another 10 to 15 days. He claimed that the authorities fear a delay of two months in providing new books to the students. Ramesh alleged, “The situation has worsened deeply, this incompetence touches new heights every day.”