1. School Bag Policy (2020)

Ministry of Education had constituted an Expert Group for preparing policy on children’s school bags in pursuance of the direction of Hon’ble High Court of Madras in 2018 including members from KVS, CBSE, and two states – Maharashtra and Telangana. NCERT has been entrusted to coordinate the development of this policy. The School Bag Policy was developed based on findings of the survey conducted by the Expert Group focusing on the concerns related to school bags. The data was collected from students, teachers, parents, and school heads. The Policy has made its recommendations for the reduction of school bag including the concern of reduction of a load of non-comprehension and change in school’s pedagogic practices. The report was finalized taking care of the perspective of National Education Policy 2020 and submitted to the Ministry of Education. The same was released in 2020 by the Ministry of Education.

2. Development of Alternative Academic Calendar (2020-21)

In view of an unexpected situation - COVID-19 Pandemic, wherein our schools are shut and more than 24 crore students, their teachers and even their parents are bound to stay at home to save not only themselves but also their family and community, it was felt necessary to provide them alternative academic calendar. In view of providing all children receiving school education at home using alternative ways maintaining joyful learning approach with the participation of their parents under the guidance of teachers, NCERT was entrusted with the task of development of Alternative Academic Calendar (AAC) by the Ministry of Education. This task was coordinated by the (CG) with the content and other departments at the NIE, as well as with CIET, PSSCIVE and RIEs. Almost all the workshops and meetings with the departments were held through online mode during lockdown period from March to June 2020.

3. Handbook of Toy-based Pedagogy

A Handbook on Toy-based pedagogy has been developed to provide guideline on integration of indigenous toys, puppets, games, etc. into the curriculum and pedagogy. This was launched by the Ministry of Education on Shikshak Parv, 2022.

Toy-based pedagogy makes children learn in a joyful manner taking care of their contexts and needs. Toy-based pedagogy is helpful in developing creativity and problem-solving skills in children across the stages.

An Expert Group has been constituted by the Ministry of Education on Toy-based Pedagogy. The Group has guided the development of Handbook on Toy-based pedagogy for Curriculum Developers, Teachers, and Teacher Educators.

This Handbook covers aspects related to integration of indigenous toys, puppets, games, etc. into the curriculum and pedagogy. A variety of toys and games have been mapped with competencies and learning outcomes under this guideline. This mapping has been done for all the four stages, viz., Foundational, Preparatory, Middle, and Secondary. Mapping toys and games with competencies is supported by exemplar activities for teachers. This Handbook explains pedagogic uses of indigenous toys and games in schools and homes. This guideline has been given in two parts- Part I includes concept and scope of Toy-based Pedagogy as well as characteristics of various types of toys and games. Part II includes images of a variety of toys mapping them with competencies and learning outcomes for each of the four stages of school education as envisaged in the NEP 2020. This Handbook provides directions for the integration of toy-based pedagogy in school curriculum across the stages in all the subject areas. This will promote joyful and stress-free learning among children. It will also be helpful in reducing the curriculum burden.

4. Hindi Version of School Bag Policy

Hindi version of School Bag Policy has been prepared translating the School Bag Policy (English Version) which was released by the MoE in 2020.