Jamshedpur, Aug. 11: The Jharkhand Academic Council, which conducts the secondary and higher secondary examinations in the state, has proposed the names of 10 members who will be a part of the State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT).

The state human resource development department, last month, had entrusted the Jharkhand Academic Council with the job of recommending the names of educationists and scholars, who could be inducted in SCERT.

SCERT was to be formed in the pattern of the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT). Officials of the Jharkhand Academic Council refused to disclose the names of the members for SCERT, but said the state council of NCERT would have at least 10 members. It will be headed by a chairman, who would be appointed after serving a term of three years.

?Since Jharkhand is a small state, we decided to confine the members of the council to 10. The bigger states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have more members in NCERT state council,? said Shaligram Yadav, chairman of the Jharkhand Academic Council.

According to Yadav, once SCERT is constituted, it will take care of printing NCERT curriculum books. Moreover, the state government will be able to overcome the problem of the scarcity of NCERT text books, he said.

Officials of the state human resource development department said the government has set a deadline of October to formally announce the formation of SCERT.

According to V.B. Singh, the officer on special duty (OSD) at the human resource development department, the state cabinet has to approve the formation of SCERT.

He added, ?SCERT will work as an independent body and will review the publication of the state?s NCERT curriculum books at regular intervals.?

Sources in the human resource development department said the textbooks for the different subjects were being printed and supplied by NCERT earlier. But, following a directive from the Union ministry for the human resource development last year, the state government has initiated steps to set up the state council, which exists in other states.

According to the Union ministry?s directive, SCERT was supposed to get the textbooks printed and supplied from the current academic year.

But, as the government is yet to constitute SCERT, the textbooks could not be published, which led to non-availability of books in primary, middle and high schools across the state.