Meghalaya has decided to adopt National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks for Classes 1 to 10 from the next academic year.
Informing about the decision taken by the State cabinet today, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma cited concerns that Meghalaya Board of School Education (MBOSE) textbooks, especially for Mathematics, Science, and English, do not meet national standards.
The chief minister said that after a thorough research and consultation with different stakeholders at different levels in the education system found that most of the textbooks that have been used by MBOSE in three standardised subjects – Mathematics, Science and English do not meet national standards.
“Hence, we have taken this decision, to bring us in line with the learning outcomes at the national level. We are changing the textbooks and this change will also lead to a reduction in the number of textbooks being used at the different classes,” Sangma said.
The chief minister also cited an example that at present under the MBOSE for classes one, two and three, there are 11 textbooks that are recommended. But in NCERT there are only four textbooks.
“So hence the number of textbooks will go down drastically. Another concern raised by the Education Department was that as far as the learning outcomes at the elementary stage are concerned, the textbooks that students are using currently are not in conformity with that particular aspect,” he added.
The cabinet also emphasised that necessary adaptation to local contents, based on culture, history and uniqueness will not be diluted.
Meanwhile, the cabinet also decided to constitute a permanent Meghalaya Education Recruitment Board.
Since there are close to 187 vacancies in the education sector particularly under the higher and technical education including secondary and higher secondary levels, the recruitment board would complete the recruitment process within the next three months to maximum six months time to fill up these vacancies.
The recruitment board will be the overall arching board to take care of all education related recruitments.
