Learn Today, the learning division of the India Today Group, presented its conference: 'India's Textbook Culture', on December 11, 2008 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The purpose of the conference was to create a platform which focused on how learning resources and textbooks in particular, are conceptualised, produced and used. The conference was unique in the way it brought together a cross-section of people to reflect on education - government, the non-formal sector, private publishers, students, Principals and educational theorists.

The conference, which was divided into four sessions, had a distinct focus in each. Key issues included new learning resources, the economics of publishing, local knowledge and the implications for assessment, and policy implications for the future that Learn Today intends to present to the Government through a seminal paper.

Mr Arun Kapur addressing the audience

In his welcome address, Mr Arun Kapur, Executive Director, Learn Today, set the stage for an exciting, challenging agenda. He spoke eloquently of Tagore's idea that the objective of education is the freedom of the mind and Gandhi's 'Nai Talim' where the lives of workers and farmers should be a priority for educators. These educational philosophies should be the cornerstone of the education system of the 21st Century. The textbook, he felt could be an immensely important tool for achieving these ideals."The school textbook, in the right hands, can act as a powerful tool. As a trampoline, with a little creativity and imagination, it is a jumping-off point that propels all learners to new heights. The danger, however, is when it remains a hammock - a comfortable, lazy lounge chair that one takes a nap on. It is how the teacher uses it that makes the difference."

India's Textbook Culture Keynote Speaker Prof. Krishna Kumar

The Keynote speaker, Prof Krishna Kumar, Director NCERT, brought up several issues that traced the evolution of textbooks. Before the National Curriculum Framework 2005 was set out, textbooks held centrestage, in fact textbooks were a source of tension and even conflict. Fortunately, these reasons for this are now irrelevant. It was a challenge at that time to create textbooks that reflected a sense of peace and decency.

He felt it was the responsibility of education to create a contemplative space for the student and teacher, even to the extent of questioning the textbook. The latest generation of NCERT textbooks, makes teachers think about their subject, and 'attempts to create an experiential India for our children'. Professor Krishna Kumar felt however, that the purpose of the NCERT has been misunderstood even by child-centred schools. Keys and guides often subvert the very purpose of exams. The NCERT is hence working on making exam questions more imaginative, but to evaluate such questions, there is a need for teachers who can assess a student's argument.

Prof. Krishna Kumar felt that we are mired in the textbook culture of the nineteenth century that required the textbook to be a bible, because we haven't accepted the agency of the teacher, who the world now sees as a knowledge worker. In this connection, teacher associations can be important as agents of change. Prof. Krishna Kumar closed with a strong case for better lives and incentives for good teachers, in order to soften India's textbook culture. His view that Early Childhood Educators deserve the highest salaries, should be welcomed by underpaid and sometimes unappreciated Kindergarten teachers nationwide.

Prof MM Pant giving the Inaugural Address

The Inaugural Address was delivered by Prof. MM Pant of Planet-EDU, who traced the evolution of textbooks and then focused on the future, where the textbook will transform itself into a dialogue with the reader. He talked about the challenges faced by education in a knowledge rich society, where 'thinking' skills are more important that just learning, and where students can become 'producers of knowledge, not consumers'.