Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The CBSE-affiliated private schools in the city have set aside the instructions of prescribing only NCERT books to the students from classes 1 to 12. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) of the Madhya Pradesh Government issued the instructions.
Schools prescribed few NCERT books, with a majority of private publisher books
The lists of books for different classes published on the websites of the schools, show that there is hardly any school that is following the instructions. Some have prescribed a few NCERT books, with a majority of the prescribed books published by private publishers.
PRO of Campion School, Winston Vijay Minj said that they haven’t received any circular or order from the government stating that only NCERT books should be prescribed for all classes. “We have been told to ensure that most of the books for Classes 9-12 should be NCERT. If and when such an order is received, we will implement it fully,” he added.
Schools feel NCERT books are not challenging enough for students
Speaking on the same lines, principal of Sagar Public School, Saket Nagar, Pankaj Sharma, said the CBSE norms do not say that only NCERT books should be prescribed. “What is mandatory is to prescribe books that cover the CBSE syllabus,” she said, adding that the school prescribes books of private publishers only for subjects for which NCERT books are not available.
“In the case of English, we have prescribed books published by a very reputed private publisher because the NCERT books are not challenging enough for our students,” said the principal.
Principal of Anand Vihar School, Shailesh Zope, stated that they don’t change books frequently. “Most of the students of our school come from families which are not economically well-off. So, we encourage senior students to handover their books to the juniors so that the need for purchasing a new set of books is minimised,” he added.
What the order states
In an order issued by the Joint Director, Public Instruction, Bhopal Division dated March 18, 2025, all the District Education Officers (DEOs) have been asked to ensure that all CBSE schools prescribe only NCERT books for all classes.
