Bhubaneswar: Amid allegations of private schools in many states mandating expensive books from specific publishers, school and mass education minister Nityananda Gond on Saturday said private schools in Odisha should ensure sale and use of only NCERT books.NCERT books are aimed at standardising education, and mandating books from other publishers will defeat the purpose, he said. “Charging parents an excess amount in the name of education materials will not be allowed. If such allegations against any school are received, strict action will be taken against it,” said Gond, while speaking to mediapersons here.He said all govt schools will receive their quota of new textbooks during the summer vacation. After implementation of the National Education Policy-2020, the syllabus was changed and new books are currently under production, he said. “Students of around 50% of the schools have received the new books and the rest will get them during the summer vacation,” he added.After implementing the NEP-2020, the state govt put in place a revised curriculum that was developed in accordance with the Odisha State Curriculum Framework and NEP-2020. Under it, the govt decided to introduce 55 new textbooks from Class 1 to Class 8 as per the revised syllabus from the 2026-27 academic year. The textbooks have been translated and contextualised from NCERT materials to reflect the State’s local perspective, culture and heritage.
