Order NCERT books online and get them delivered at your doorstep. Yes, you heard it right. You can now shop NCERT textbooks online and get them delivered on time at your doorstep. Shri. Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has launched the NCERT’s Web portal for a supply of textbooks to schools and individuals in New Delhi on August 9, 2017.
The Web Portal can be accessed at www.ncertbooks.ncert.gov.in. The schools are given access to place their websites by logging on to the portal. However, to login to the portal, the schools can do it by entering their respective board’s affiliation number and other details. The schools can place their orders till September 8, 2017, for the next academic session 2018-19. The portal is currently open to only schools and very soon it will also be opened to individual buyers.
They can place their orders by logging into the portal, and books will be delivered at their doorsteps with nominal postal charges. At the time of placing the orders, the schools are not required to make the payment; the payment can be made just before the books are ready to be delivered. The NCERT textbooks can also be downloaded, free of cost, from the NCERT’s website www.ncert.nic.in
The decision had been taken by the Ministry Human Resource Development in early July, to ensure NCERT books are available to all schools(public and private) and students at a cheaper price. According to Mr. Anil Swarup, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy (MHRD), the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has about 20,000 schools under it, and over 13 crore books are consumed by students. While the maximum price of an NCERT book is Rs 50, that of a non-NCERT book goes up to Rs 300 — which is six times more than NCERT books.
Mr. Swarup says, “While buying NCERT books, these 20,000 schools spend Rs 650 crore, but for non-NCERT publications, they will have to spend Rs 3,900 crore. This is not a small margin. I am worried about the financial burden on school children — there is no qualitative comparison.” Providing relief to parents from buying textbooks at steep prices, the Secretary says, the government has made this decision to supply National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books.
NCERT is also exploring the option of having E-commerce vendors Amazon and Flipkart to host its books. However, the talks are still on and very soon a final decision will be taken. The move is expected to help parents save money spent on sourcing expensive books from private publishers, often due to non-availability of NCERT books.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous organization set up in 1961 by the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programs for qualitative improvement in school education. Textbooks published by NCERT are prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) from classes I to XII
