The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, established on September 1, 1961. It was created by merging seven existing government organizations, including the Central Institute of Education and the Central Bureau of Textbook Research, to address the problem of a fragmented school system and to create a common, national system of education that would improve quality and reflect India's pluralistic character.
NCERT functions primarily as an advisory body to the Central and State Governments on policies and programs for the qualitative improvement of school education. Its mechanism involves undertaking, promoting, and coordinating educational research, developing the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), and preparing and publishing model textbooks and supplementary materials for classes I to XII, which are widely used by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and various state boards. It also organizes pre-service and in-service training for teachers through its constituent units, such as the Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs).
NCERT is closely connected to the National Education Policy (NEP), which guides its curriculum development, and the University Grants Commission (UGC). A significant recent change occurred when the Centre granted NCERT the status of an "Institution deemed to be University under distinct category" on March 30, 2026, under Section 3 of the UGC Act. This change allows NCERT to independently offer higher education programs, including diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral courses, and to award its own degrees, while its core role in school curriculum development remains. This transition aligns with the NEP 2020's goal of strengthening teacher education and research.