Increase in demand for NCERT textbooks likely this session

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which publishes academic books, is expecting the demand for their books to go up more than three times by the next academic session, with the central government pushing schools to use more of NCERT textbooks.

The government, however, has been maintaining that they are "not making NCERT books mandatory but making sure that no child is deprived of books because of high priced private publisher books". The council currently publishes about 4.63 crore books, the number they expect would go up by close to 13 crore in the next academic session when more schools switch to NCERT books.

To meet the growing demand, the council launched an online portal on Wednesday, which will help schools and individuals access books before the commencement of the coming session. The Central Board of Secondary Education has written to 19,000 schools affiliated to it to send their demand of books on the portal.

"The portal will be open for a month. We will accept demands for books from schools and individuals and then work out a print order for the upcoming academic session so books are printed and delivered well before the commencement of the new session," said Hrushikesh Senapathy, Director of NCERT.