Question : Supply of NCERT Books

(a) whether the Government has taken adequate steps for supply of NCERT books for schools
affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether any review meeting has been convened in this regard and if so, the details and the
outcome thereof;
(c) whether the Government has received complaints from schools and parents that textbooks
were not available on time and books from private publishers were expensive and if so, the details
thereof along with the action taken by the Government thereon;
(d) whether it is a fact that now schools can log into the CBSE website and place their
requirements for NCERT textbooks online and if so, the details thereof; and
(e) the other steps taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government to make school books
available before the commencement of academic session?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)
(a) Yes, Madam. The following steps have been taken in this regard: -
(i) The National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) has empanelled 680
vendors across the country for the purpose of distribution of their textbooks. The list of these
vendors along with their addresses and contact numbers are uploaded on NCERT website for
the schools ensuring them an easy approach to vendors.
(ii) NCERT books are also made available to the students and schools from NCERT sales
counter located at NCERT headquarter. In addition, NCERT books are made available from
the sales counter of its Regional Centres located at Ahmadabad, Bangalore and Kolkata. The
sales counters located at Regional Institutes of Education in Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar,
Mysore and Shillong also cater to their respective areas.
(iii) So far NCERT has released approximately 1.53 crore copies of their textbooks in the market.
Further NCERT sales counters are equipped with adequate stock of books to supply to the
schools as and when they desire to lift their stock from NCERT outlets.
(iv) All the NCERT textbooks are available on public domain as they have been uploaded on the
NCERT website www.ncert.nic.in and also on e-pathshala mobile app.
(v) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has created a link on its website for
raising online indent for requirements of NCERT books for CBSE affiliated schools.
(b) Regular meetings have been held in the Ministry to review the requirement of NCERT
textbooks in CBSE affiliated schools so as to ensure adequate supply of books to these schools.
(c) and (d) So far, no complaint has been received from schools and parents regarding nonavailability
of NCERT textbooks. The Ministry has, however, been receiving many complaints from
parents and public with regard to spending exorbitant amount for purchasing of books of private
publishers. Keeping in view such complaints, CBSE has created a link on its website for raising
online indent for requirements of NCERT books for CBSE affiliated schools to facilitate parents and
students. This has resulted in receiving indents from 2091 CBSE affiliated schools for supply of
51.61 lakh NCERT books from across the country.
(e) NCERT has already released approximately 1.53 crore copies of their textbooks in the
market. Additional 30 lakh books are available in stock and 63 lakh books are under print. The
NCERT has also granted Copyright permission to 14 States Education Boards/Agencies for
adoption/ adaptation and translation etc., of their text books..
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