On Friday, history professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani at HNB Garhwal University has been appointed as NCERT director for five years. He has succeeded Hrushikesh Senapaty who had completed his tenure as NCERT director over a year ago. Professor Dinesh Saklani will manage and oversee the drafting procedure of the new NCF (National Curriculum Framework) that will bring guidelines for changes in curriculum. This was last modified in the year 2005 under the regime of the UPA government. Before 2005, it was revised in 1975, 1988, and 2000.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous institution. NCERT is tasked with advising the Union Government (Ministry of Education, MoE) on school curriculum and content of school textbooks. More than 20 states have adopted the NCERT curriculum and it is taught in every school affiliated with CBSE.
The framework, for school education, early childhood care, and education, teacher education, and adult education, will be revised based on the recommendations made by a Centre-appointed 12-member National Steering Committee headed by former ISRO chairman K Kasturirangan.
More about new NCERT Director
Dinesh Prasad Saklani, newly appointed NCERT director is a professor in the department of ancient history, archaeology, and culture at HNB Garhwal University. He has authored three books. One of the books authored by Saklani is titled “Ramayana Tradition in Historical Perspective, and the other book is on ancient communities of the central Himalaya region. Apart from this, he has published various research papers on Ramayana tradition in performing arts. However, it is important to note that he hasn’t headed any academic institution before this and this is going to be the first such instance in his career.
Saklani has been interviewed by search-cum-selection committee along with several other contenders before being appointed as the new NCERT Director. The acting NCERT director Professor Sridhar Srivastava, Professor PC Agarwal, principal of Bhubaneswar Regional Institute of Education (RIE), and NCERT’s professor of Department of Education in social sciences has been called for the interview.