NCERT Deemed University: Taking a big decision in the education sector, the Central Government has given the status of ‘Deemed University’ to NCERT. This decision has been taken under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act 1956, which has given the institute the right to provide higher education.
NCERT, which till now was limited to preparing school curriculum and books, will now be able to start courses like diploma, graduation, post graduation and PhD. This step is considered important towards furthering the goals of the National Education Policy 2020.
Actually, NCERT had applied to UGC to get the status of ‘Deemed University’. In the year 2023, UGC had issued a ‘Letter of Intent’ with certain conditions and time to meet the standards within three years. Now after all the necessary conditions have been fulfilled, it has got formal recognition.
Under this new status, six major institutes of NCERT have been included, which include Regional Institutes of Education Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysore and Shillong along with Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education based in Bhopal.
However, despite being a ‘Deemed University’, NCERT has to follow all the rules and standards of the UGC. The course, admission process, number of seats and fee structure will be decided as per UGC guidelines.
This decision is expected to bring a big change in the field of education and research in the country. Now NCERT will play an important role in teacher training as well as in high level research and policy making, which can give a new direction to the quality and innovation of education.