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NCERT New Textbooks: Four-Day Capacity Building Program Begins at RIE Bhubaneswar
Bhubaneswar: Just putting new textbooks in students’ hands is not adequate to implement those new textbooks effectively. Teachers also need to know the rationale, structure and methods of teaching the new textbooks and other new learning materials. With this in mind, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has initiated a four-day capacity-building program on its new textbooks and learning materials at the Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Bhubaneswar.
From September 14 to 17, 2026, this program aims to help participants understand and support the new NCERT textbooks and learning materials to aid their use in the classroom. This program was started with Prof. Laxmidhar Behera, In-charge Principal, RIE Bhubaneswar, in attendance.
The Four-Day Program Focuses on New NCERT Textbooks
Newer learning resources and accompanying curriculum and teaching methodologies have inspired this capacity-building program and have brought education stakeholders and academics together to discuss teaching methodologies and curricula. Sessions aim to cover:
- National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022
- National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023
- ‘Jaadui Pitara’
- New Hindi textbooks
The sessions on the new textbooks will focus on their structure and content and methods for use in classroom teaching. Thus, rather than simply showing new textbooks, the program aims to help place the new textbooks in context for participants and to help them understand how to best use them.
‘Sarangi’ and ‘Veena’ Draw Most Attention in New NCERT Hindi Textbook Discussions
The new NCERT Hindi textbooks ‘Sarangi’ and ‘Veena’ have generated considerable interest in recent discussions related to NCERT textbooks. The resource persons at the discussions were Prof. Suniti Sanwal, Head of the Department of Elementary Education, and Dr Monu Singh Gurjar, an Assistant Professor, NCERT. They enlightened the participants on the construction, content, and the educational principles incorporated in the textbooks.
The discussions also focused on effectively using the textbooks in the classroom context. As per the present NCERT textbook literary resources, the ‘Veena’ is a textbook, while the ‘Sarangi’ is a Hindi textbook for Grade 1 and Grade 2, in the elementary level learning resources. Therefore, the textbook-related resource discussions that have been conducted at the elementary level are particularly relevant to the teachers, providing them with the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the new textbooks and the new textbook teaching-learning strategies.
What is ‘Jaadui Pitara’?
There were discussions around ‘Jaadui Pitara’, NCERT’s textbook teaching-learning material for the foundational stage. NCERT defines ‘Jaadui Pitara’ as an example of context-relevant and age-appropriate teaching-learning material for the foundational stage of learning. Resources included posters, storybooks, puppets, games, puzzles, and toy theatres, etc.
The NCF-FS 2022 emphasises learning through play and activity during the foundational stage. This makes these kinds of teaching-learning materials adequate for the proposed classroom environment.
RIE Bhubaneswar Faculty, PM SHRI School Teachers and Researchers Participate
The program brings together participants from different segments of the education world. As stated in the announcement of NCERT, participant groups include:
- Faculty of RIE Bhubaneswar
- PM SHRI D.M. School Teachers
- Research Scholars
With their participation, discourses on the active engagement of teacher educators, practitioner school teachers and researchers can be initiated on the classroom incorporation of recently developed curricula.
These discussions can be even more pertinent since some problems related to the implementation of textbooks surface only when teachers actually engage with the textbook resources in their classrooms.
Why Capacity Building Matters for New Textbooks
While textbooks bring content, the teacher determines how the content is actually brought alive in the classroom. Capacity-building programs can help teachers understand:
- The learning objectives of the new textbooks
- The pedagogical principles of the textbooks and the accompanying materials
- The integration and adaptation of textbooks and companions in teaching and learning activities
- The new textbooks and learning resources and the curriculum framework
- Classroom practices to move away from rote learning
- Differentiated teaching to support various learning needs
NCF-FS 2022 particularly supports the use of a range of books and learning resources in different forms, depending on the age of the learners, and emphasizes meaningful and experiential learning through resources such as picture and story books.
A Step Towards More Meaningful and Inclusive Classroom Learning
Beyond just orienting textbooks, what makes the Bhubaneswar Programme special is that when a teacher understands the reasoning and pedagogy of the learning resources available, they are in the position to understand what learners need and why without having to teach to the textbook. This is especially important for foundational education because learners are at various stages in their learning, have different nationalities, interests, and backgrounds, and different levels of prior experience.
NCF-FS 2022 advocates the use of a variety of books and learning resources that are appropriate for learners and promotes resources that make reading an active process and learning more enjoyable. Thus, the main goal is not the introduction of new textbooks, but the introduction of reforms that make learning more engaging, more learner-centred, and more flexible.
From New Books to New Ways of Learning
The four-day program at RIE Bhubaneswar focuses on an important aspect of curriculum reform that at times is in the shadows. A new textbook can bring a new focus for a student on their desk. New capacity-building work can address what is going on beyond that desk.
To strengthen their implementation of new NCERT textbooks and Teaching Learning resources, the program presents to a select group of teachers and participants the new NCERT textbooks. The discussions on NCF-FS 2022, NCF-SE 2023, Jaadui Pitara, Sarangi and Veena bring together curriculum, content and classroom practice in one training program.
Final Thoughts
The NCERT capacity-building program at RIE Bhubaneswar, from September 14 to 17, 2026, will help in bringing new textbooks and teaching-learning materials closer to their intended users. Faculty members, PM SHRI school teachers, and research scholars will have an opportunity to interrelate the curriculum frameworks with the exigencies of the classroom.
As NCERT continues to publish new teaching-learning materials aligned with the latest curriculum frameworks, the success of these materials will depend on how effectively teachers understand and use them. For students, it will be something more than a new textbook: a classroom where the new textbook introduces them to a 'book of activities' that helps them understand and learn in new and different ways, and a classroom where all learners are on an equal footing.
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