Historic Shift: NCERT to Transform into Deemed University by 2026

NCERT is set to be granted deemed-to-be-university status by the end of January 2026. This upgrade will allow the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to award its own undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral degrees, moving beyond its traditional role of school-level curriculum and textbooks.

Key Highlights of the Transition

• Status Change: NCERT will become a deemed university, pending final approval from the University Grants Commission (UGC).
• Timeline: The groundwork is complete, and the UGC is expected to finalize the decision in its upcoming meeting by January-end 2026.
• Funding: NCERT will continue to be primarily funded by the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education.
• Academic Powers: Once granted, NCERT can independently award UG, PG, and PhD degrees.
• Global Collaboration: The move is expected to open avenues for international partnerships and strengthen India’s research ecosystem.

What Changes for NCERT?

Current Role	Future Role (Deemed University)
Designs school curricula and textbooks	Offers UG, PG, and PhD programs
Provides teacher training modules	Conducts advanced teacher education and research
Advisory body for school education	Full-fledged research university with global collaborations
Limited to school-level focus	Expands into higher education and multidisciplinary research

Why This Matters

• For Students: Opens new pathways to pursue higher education directly under NCERT, known for its academic rigor.
• For Teachers: Enhances professional development opportunities through advanced degrees and research programs.
• For India’s Education System: Strengthens the country’s position in global education by enabling NCERT to contribute beyond school-level reforms.

Potential Challenges

• Transition Management: Shifting from a curriculum body to a university requires structural and administrative overhaul.
• Maintaining Focus: Balancing school-level responsibilities with higher education ambitions could stretch resources.
• Global Standards: To succeed internationally, NCERT must ensure its research output meets global benchmarks.

Google, NCERT Partner for Dedicated Youtube Channels for Students in 29 Languages

Technology giant Google has partnered with the India's National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to launch dedicated YouTube channels for students from grades 1 to 12.

These channels will offer educational content in 29 Indian languages, including Indian Sign Language. This initiative aims to make high-quality education more accessible and inclusive for students across India.

Additionally, Google is collaborating with the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) to offer certified courses on YouTube. These courses, backed by India's prestigious IITs, cover a wide range of subjects and allow learners to earn certifications through the NPTEL-SWAYAM portal.

Key Highlights:

• Content: The channels will offer curriculum-based educational content for students from grades 1 to 121. This includes subjects like sciences, literature, sports psychology, and even rocket propulsion.
• Languages: Content will be available in 29 Indian languages, including Indian Sign Language, ensuring that students from diverse linguistic backgrounds can benefit.
• Certifications: Google is also collaborating with the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) to offer certified courses. Learners who complete these courses can earn certifications through the NPTEL-SWAYAM portal.
• AI Integration: Google is leveraging AI to enhance the learning experience. AI tools will identify key concepts in videos and provide definitions, images, and additional context from Google’s Knowledge Graph.

This initiative aims to break barriers to learning and provide high-quality educational resources to millions of students across India.

NCERT Now Deemed-to-be-University; Edu Minister Suggests AR/VR and AI Labs in 7 Regional NCERT Centres

Last Friday, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, informed that NCERT has been given the status of a Deemed-to-be-University.

The minister, Mr. Pradhan, also inaugurated a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory of the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), a constituent unit of NCERT.

Hereafter, the 'deemed university' status will now allow NCERT to offer its own graduate, post-graduate and doctoral degrees and have autonomy in terms of introduction of programmes, course structure, conducting examinations and management, among others.

Established in 1961, NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has been an autonomous organisation of the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.

NCERT on becoming a research university will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape.

In addition to this, NCERT will also be developing educational material in all 22 languages with the help of software like Anuvadini.

Mr Pradhan also emphasized developing content in mother tongue. Resently, India’s Science & Technology Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, also informed that Medical education has commenced in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has commenced in eight languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati & Bengali, across the country.

Further, Mr Pradhan also suggested setting up Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs in all 7 regional centres of NCERT. To make India the global hub of research and innovation these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure, he added.

The Minister also urged NCERT to standardize the Teachers’ training curriculum to NCERT in its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

The Minister also informed that NCERT has developed "Jadui Pitara" — a play-based learning-teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3-8 years.

Inclusive Education: In A First Govt Releases Guidelines for E-Content Development for Children with Disabilities, Divyang

Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ today approved the release of the guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities today.

A comprehensive initiative, PM e-VIDYA was launched on 17th May 2020, with an aim to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education. The programme, among other things, envisages development of special e-content for the Divyang (Children with Disabilities-CwDs). In pursuance of this vision, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education had constituted a Committee of experts, for recommending guidelines for developing e-content for these children.

For the first time, an attempt was made to prepare guidelines for CwD also referred to as Children with Special Needs (CWSN) children so that the goal of inclusive education is fulfilled. The Committee submitted a report titled "Guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities" comprising of eleven Sections and two Appendices. This report was shared, presented, discussed and accepted by the Ministry of Education (MoE).

The salient highlights of the e- content guidelines in the report are:

• e-Content for CwDs should be developed based on the four principles namely: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
• e-Content including text, tables, diagrams, visuals, audios, videos etc. should comply with accessibility standards: national standards (GIGW 2.0) and international standards (WCAG 2.1, E-Pub, DAISY etc).
• Distribution platforms on which content is uploaded (e.g. DIKSHA) and Reading platforms/devices on which content is accessed and interacted (e.g. e-pathshala) must comply with technical standards
• Reasonable pedagogical accommodations have been recommended to meet specific needs of CwDs
• The technical standards and guidelines have been detailed out in Section 4 of the report.
• The Committee has also recommended that in a phased manner textbooks may be adapted into Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADTs). The content of ADTs should be provided in multiple formats (text, audio, video, sign language etc) with turn-on and turn-off features. Further ADTs should provide flexibility to CwDs to respond to its content/exercises in multiple ways. The detailed guidelines for developing ADTs along with existing international and national experience, in the development of prototypes including the recent NCERT’s experience: Barkha:A Reading Series for All (in print and digital forms), Accessible Textbooks for All and UNICEF’s “Accessible Digital Textbooks using Universal Design for Learning ( for Learners with and without Disabilities ) have been presented in Section 5 of the report.
• In addition to ADTs, in Sections 6 to 9 the Committee has recommended specific guidelines for development of supplementary e-Content as per 21 disabilities specified in the RPWD Act 2016 for students having Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Multiple Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Specific Learning Disabilities, Blindness, low vision, Deafness and Hard of Hearing and others.
• A summary of the recommendations has been presented in Section 10 of the report for sharing widely with content creators, content designers, developers, publishers.
• The implementation roadmap along with the suggestions to strengthen compliance to the accessibility guidelines have been presented in Section 11 of the report.
• Comprehensive guidelines and technical standards for the production of Sign Language videos have been provided at Appendix-1 of the Report.
• Universal Design for Learning( UDL)guidelines for content development and pedagogical accommodations are given in Appendix 2 of the report.

These guidelines will initiate the creation of high quality content for digital education to Children with Special needs. They are dynamic by nature, to be improved based on experience and advent of better technology.

CyberPeace with NCERT and UNESCO brings One of the Largest Cybersecurity Competitions 'e-Raksha' Awards

One of the world’s largest competition on cyber peace, online safety and cyber-wellness was held from Feb 2019 to August 2019. This competition was organized by CyberPeace Foundation in collaboration with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and UNESCO New Delhi Office. The aim of this initiative was to sensitize the children and teachers on cybersecurity and get them engaged in a meaningful dialog by expressing their ideas on online safety in the form of painting, slogan, videos and posters.

The competition was announced on the occasion of Safer Internet Day on the 5th of February 2019 and was launched on 15th April 2019. The competition ended on the 31st of August and the award ceremony was organized at UNESCO in New Delhi on the 30th of September 2019. This competition is sponsored by WhatsApp and Google, and supported by Twitter, Instagram, YourStory and AutoBot Infosec.

[caption id="attachment_136312" align="aligncenter" width="496"] Winners Category 1 & 2[/caption]

“The contest was open for all types of schools - Central Government, State Government and Private Schools across India. Students and in-service teachers working in schools were invited to participate. Categories of student and teachers were created to equip them as effective future leaders of this Digital World. As a result of this competition, we successfully spread the message of cyber peace and cybersecurity inclusively, “ said, Capt Vineet Kumar, President, CyberPeace Foundation.

[caption id="attachment_136313" align="aligncenter" width="494"] Winners Category 3 & 4[/caption]

The competition saw overwhelming participation from 28 states and 7 union territories, adding to the diversity of the competition and the overall vision of a completely cyber-aware India. There were 15000+ submissions from across the length and breadth of India including entries from the remotest part of the country such as Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the rural areas in the north-eastern part of India. Entries were also received from Russia and UAE.

The winners were selected after multiple rounds of rigorous evaluation. There were three rounds of assessment before deciding the finalists. The final evaluation was done by an expert jury across all segments connected with Cybersecurity, Government, Industry, Civil society, academia and mental health institutions- (NIMHANS, AIIMS). The winners for the awards were 15 students and 5 teachers across India.

As India touches a figure of 730 million Internet users, and experiences several cyberattacks on individuals every second, need for competitions like eRaksha increases.

The event was inaugurated by Shri Priyank Kanoongo , Hon’ble Chairperson, NCPCR. The prizes were given away by

• Shri S.N. Pradhan, IPS & DG, NDRF,


• Maj. Gen. Arvind Chaturvedi, PVSM, AVSM, SM and Additional Director General, Territorial Army


• Shri Rakesh Maheshwari, Group Coordinator, Cyber Law and eSecurity, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology


• Shradha Sharma, Founder, Yourstory


• Mr. Hezekiel Dlamini, Advisor for Communication and Information, UNESCO


• Dr. Indu Kumar, NCERT


• Capt Vineet Kumar, President, CyberPeace Foundation


• Ambassador workshop was also conducted for the winners to take the message of CyberPeace Forward in the community.

The event was attended by representatives from United Nation agencies, Government, Industry, academia (Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navoday Vidyalaya, NCERT, CBSE etc) and civil societies. This competition has definitely galvanized the young minds to think and work for cyber peace in this highly vulnerable cyberspace. The day long celebration which included Musical performance, address by dignitaries, award distribution concluded with creation of Cyberpeace Ambassadors to spread the message of Cyber Peace, online safety and responsible behavior online.

About eRaksha Awards

The idea for the competition was conceptualized as a result of the numerous interactions we have had with students and teachers across the country, on the need for online safety and the emerging trends that have revolutionized cyberspace. We received close to 15000 entries and many many innovative ideas on promoting peace in cyberspace and building resilience. The awards ceremony is a celebration of the ideas and thoughts of young minds who will build the future and actively form society both online and offline.

About CyberPeace Foundation

Cyber Peace Foundation (CPF) is a civil society organization, think tank of cyberpeace, cybersecurity and policy experts with the vision of pioneering Cyber Peace Initiatives to build collective resiliency against cybercrimes & global threats of cyber warfare. CPF is involved in Policy Advocacy, Research and Training related to all aspects of Cyber Peace and Cyber Security. Key areas of Cyber Peace Foundation work are in Technology Governance, Policy Review and Advocacy, Capacity and Capability creation and building through partnerships with various government organizations, academic institutions and civil society entities.