New Delhi/Nagpur: E-pathshala, a mobile app as well as a website, has been launched by the Ministry of Human Resources, which will serve as a platform to provide free access to the NCERT books for students, teachers and parents. According to newspaper reports, for the first time, all NCERT books of Class 1 to 12 are available on mobile phone application platform. The books of all the subjects will be available in both Hindi and English language. One may even be able to download chapter wise books of every subject in pdf format.
The main advantage of this app is that you don’t have to shell big bucks in purchasing books as you will only be required to bear the cost of internet to download them. You will not have to pay any other cost and these books can be used for long time.
Human Resource minister Smriti Irani had launched the mobile app e-pathshala and website portal on November 7 last year. It was launched during the National Conference on ICT in School Education. While interacting with the reporters, the HRD minister said NCERT has also given copyrights to over eight state governments to print books as they deem fit to fulfill the requirements of their students. She said, “We would also put out in public that NCERT has its own sales counter in Ajmer, Bhopal, Shillong, Bhubneswar, Mysuru, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Guwahati and New Delhi, from where schools can procure these books in bulk.
The HRD minister, however, also added that her ministry in conjunction with CBSE in July 2015 gave a circular which states very clearly that forcing parents and children to buy too many textbooks is not only unhealthy but unsound practice.
The application and the website both provides access to digital textbooks and eResources. One can even participate in exhibitions, festivals, contests, workshops, etc.
