CBSE books to be made available online for free, says HRD Minister Smriti Irani

New Delhi: All CBSE books and learning material will be made available online for free as part of the Centre's good governance efforts, HRD Minister Smriti Irani
said here on Saturday.

At a function organised at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in east Delhi, she also said that initiatives would be undertaken to ensure holistic nurturing and improve learning outcomes at these schools.

"We made NCERT books available online for free through e-books and mobile applications a month-and-a-half ago. We are similarly going to make CBSE books available online along with additional learning material and videos as part of our good governance efforts," Irani said at the inauguration of a new building of the school in Khichripur.

Responding to the call by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at the function that endeavours be made to ensure that children not only excel professionally but also
become good human beings, Irani asked her ministry's officials to organise 'Baal Sabha' (Child Conventions).

These conventions will feature interactions between children and professionals from fields including defence to help the former grow into "good human beings".

Irani also reiterated that the Centre will launch 'Shaala Darpan' and 'Saransh' services (for Class I to Class XII students) in Kendriya Vidyalayas in the next academic year.

The 'Shaala Darpan' service is aimed at using SMSes to keep parents informed about their wards' attendance, time table and marks in exams while 'Saransh' will help parents
compare the subject-wise learning outcomes of their children, with others at the district, state and national levels.

Earlier, addressing the function, Sisodia stressed on the role of education in the lives of children.

"You need to check whether you are doing better than yesterday. Are we behaving better than yesterday. The focus should be that if a child gets out of educational institutes
20 years later, he/she should pass out as a sensible person," he said.

The AAP leader urged schools to take the responsibility of turning children into good human beings.

"When we read in newspapers about communal violence, rapes somewhere, then we feel we fell short somewhere. Hence, we will have to take responsibility. A person is giving us 20 years of his/her life.

"So, we will have to ensure we impress on him/her that it is equally important to be a good human being as to be a good engineer or other professional," he said.

East Delhi MP Maheish Girri also addressed the event, which was attended by senior HRD officials and local public representatives.