What seemed to hold the potential to become a pioneering Internet initiative by the Government of India is now dying a premature death. The initiative of putting school course textbooks of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) online by the Department of Education, Ministry of HRD (MoHRD), still hangs in mid-air, even a year after initiation.

After putting the science textbook for class three online as a pilot, the online book project has come to an grinding halt with no decisions being taken on its future. As a result, while the government has lost an opportunity in promoting e-learning at a mass level, the student community in the country too has lost a possible opportunity in experiencing learning through IT.

It all started a year back with a report on NCERT schoolbooks being put online by the Department of Education. This led to a question being raised in Parliament, where NCERT denied the report. Thanks to this, after putting the pilot book online, the Department of Education had to put on hold online versions of other books. The Department of Education’s site at www.education.nic.in still shows NCERT textbooks for various subjects of classes four, five, six and seven in its list of online books.

However, the ball is now in the ministry’s court as K S Mallick, director, Web and multimedia, Department of Education (which takes up all these Internet initiatives) points out that if the ministry wants to do so, it can go ahead with the initiative against NCERT’s will, without any legal implications. “Though NCERT is an autonomous body, the ministry still continues to hold administrative control over NCERT,” he explains. While claiming the matter is with the ministry, he declined to comment on when the project is likely to proceed. “If the ministry is convinced that the project is a priority it will be given a green signal. Once the ministry takes the decision, the books will be put online within 30 days,” says Mallick.

While NCERT continues to stand firm and will not budge from its position, citing the reason of revenue loss because of this online initiative, the Department of Education has its own reasons to hold on to its position in favour of the initiative. Refuting any apprehension on NCERT’s part about revenue loss, Mallick pointed out that hardly anybody will go in for downloading and printing the entire book as it will be 10 times more expensive to do so, as compared to the book’s price in the market.

According to Mallick, out of the requirement for its books, which is worth Rs 300 crore, NCERT is able to meet only
Rs 100 crore worth of demand. Thus leaving the rest of the demand to be met by the grey market, fakes and duplicates. Putting the books online will help in discouraging the grey market. The online availability of books will also help in countering the delayed availability of books to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated students in foreign countries, as well as in various parts of India.

“This will not only be in the interest of student community but also help in the spread of e-learning to some extent,” explained Mallick. Further, any mistakes in print can be rectified easily on the Net. In terms of advantages for researchers and academicians, the online version will make for ready availability of the text for quick reference. Further, in light of the current controversy on the history syllabus, the initiative will help in creating awareness both in the national and international community, as well as in creating standards for textbooks.

While the decision on NCERT books is pending, the Web and multimedia division of the Department of Education has spearheaded other initiatives like putting online multimedia versions of NCERT textbooks, textbooks from CBSE as well as educational books by various other authors. Also in line are plans to put up virtual labs on the Net. According to Mallick, CBSE has committed to put all their books online. In fact, the English core book under the CBSE syllabus for all the classes will be up by July 2002.