Sudha Murthy, Mahadevan in NCERT's panel for textbooks

NEW DELHI: NCERT has notified two committees, studded with experts not only in academics but also in a wide array of fields, to design and develop school syllabus and new textbooks under the National Education Policy 2020. For the core group, the members come from several fields - philanthropy, sports, music, corporate world, bureaucracy, school and higher education, and policy-making.
Sudha Murthy, chairperson, Infosys Foundation, Sanjeev Sanyal, member of the economic advisory council to the PM, Bibek Debroy, chairman of the economic advisory council to the PM, Shankar Mahadevan, music maestro, U Vimal Kumar, former Indian badminton player, Sujatha Ramdorai, professor at Canada's University of British Columbia, and Surina Rajan (retired IAS), former director general, Haryana Institute of Public Administration are members of the 19-member National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) that has been entrusted with the task of developing school syllabus, textbooks and learning materials for classes III-XII.
The committee will be supported by the National Curriculum Frameworks Oversight Committee (NOC), which includes professor Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University, Anurag Behar, CEO, Azim Premji Foundation, and Indian billionaire business magnate Sridhar Vembu. The NSTC is chaired by M C Pant, chancellor, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, and co-chaired by professor Manjul Bhargava. The committee has been also empowered "to appropriately revise the existing textbooks of classes I and II to ensure smooth transition from classes II to III".
The members also include Shekhar Mande, former DG, CSIR and distinguished professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Michel Danino, visiting professor of IIT-Gandhinagar, and Rabin Chhetri, director, SCERT, Sikkim, among others.
As per the terms of reference for NSTC, "The textbooks and other materials will cover all curricular areas, and the subjects within, that are part of the NCF-SE (National Curriculum Framework - School Education) as also their support materials such as teacher handbooks."
The committee will be assisted by curricular area groups (CAGs) to develop textbooks and other teaching learning materials for each of the subjects. The committee is also "free to invite other experts for advice..."
The NOC, chaired by Jagbir Singh, chancellor, Central University of Punjab, is to ensure "full alignment of syllabus, textbooks, and other teaching learning materials to NCF-SE 2023. The NOC has been entrusted to support and facilitate the NSTC in ways, such as providing detailed orientation to the members of NSTC and others including the CAGs. The NOC members also include M K Sridhar, member UGC and Najma Akhtar, vice chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia.