History professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani appointed as the new NCERT director

A history professor from Uttarakhand, Dinesh Prasad Saklani, has been appointed as the new director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an official from the Union ministry of education (MoE) has said.

"The Central government has appointed Dinesh Prasad Saklani as director of NCERT for a period of five years or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is the earliest,” the MoE official told PTI.

Saklani is a professor with the department of history, ancient Indian history, culture and archaeology at HNB Garhwal University in Uttarakhand.

He previously taught for eight years in the tourism department and IAS coaching centre of HNB Garhwal University as a guest faculty. Saklani was also a visiting fellow in the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He was selected as a lecturer at HNB Garhwal University in May 1992.

The appointment of Saklani, who is a life member of the Indian History Congress, comes at a crucial time when NCERT is in process of developing a new national curriculum framework as per the provisions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Presently, Saklani is working on a major research project on ‘Ramayana Tradition in Garhwal Himalaya’ funded by the Indian Council of Historical Research. He had earlier worked on a project of NCERT to develop a historical atlas for the CBSE.

NCERT, an autonomous body which assists and advises the government on policies for improvement in school education, has not had a full-time director since November 2020. The five-year term of previous full-time director Hrushikesh Senapaty ended in 2020. Since then, Sridhar Srivastava has been holding the position as director in-charge.