The government has set up an expert committee to develop the National Curriculum Frameworks, the guiding documents for the preparation of school, preschool and teacher-training textbooks.

The ministry of education has formed the 12-member National Steering Committee under the chairmanship of former Isro chairman K. Kasturirangan, who had also headed the panel that prepared the draft National Education Policy.

The committee will develop four NCFs — one each for school education, early childhood care and education, teacher education and adult education.

According to the committee’s terms of reference, it will discuss the various aspects of these four areas, draw inputs from state curriculum frameworks prepared by the SCERTs, and develop the NCFs. The committee may invite subject experts if required. Its tenure will be three years.

The other members of the panel are Mahesh Chandra Pant, chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration; Govind Prasad Sharma, chairman of the National Book Trust; Najma Akhtar, vice-chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia; T.V. Kattimani, vice-chancellor of the Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh; Michel Danino, a Padma Shri recipient for his work on literature and education; Milind Kamble, entrepreneur; Jagbir Singh, chancellor of the Central University of Punjab; Manjul Bhargava, an American mathematician of Indian origin; M.K. Sridhar, a member of the NEP committee ; Dhir Jhingran, founder-director of the Language and Learning Foundation, an NGO working on foundational learning for children; and Shankar Maruwada, co-founder of the EkStep Foundation, an NGO working for child literacy and numeracy.