Pradhan Lauds NCERT’s Partnership with Amazon to Improve Access to Educational Resources

In his address, Shri Pradhan emphasized that this initiative supports the NEP 2020’s goals of creating an inclusive, accessible, and affordable education system.

Union Minister for Education Shri Dharmendra Pradhan presided over the signing of a significant Letter of Engagement (LoE) between NCERT and Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd today, marking the first-ever collaboration aimed at ensuring widespread access to original NCERT textbooks through e-commerce platforms at printed prices.

Key figures at the event included Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Smt. Prachi Pandey, Joint Secretary (DoSEL), Prof. Dinesh Prasad Saklani, Director of NCERT, Shri Saurabh Shrivastava, Vice President of Amazon, Shri Aman Jain, Director of Public Policy at Amazon, and other dignitaries and officials.

In his address, Shri Pradhan emphasized that this initiative supports the NEP 2020’s goals of creating an inclusive, accessible, and affordable education system. With India's digital expansion, this collaboration is part of the government's broader push to improve 'ease of living', particularly for students. He acknowledged NCERT's monumental role in shaping India’s educational landscape, having published approximately 220 crore textbooks and journals since 1963.

Through this partnership, NCERT textbooks will be made available across 20,000 pin codes in India, addressing concerns about delayed availability, supply gaps, and regional shortages. Amazon’s delivery network will ensure that students in even the most remote regions have access to affordable, high-quality, original NCERT textbooks. The books will be sold at or below the Maximum Retail Price (MRP), and the platform will help monitor and eliminate the sale of pirated or overpriced copies. This will bring much-needed transparency and reliability to the distribution of educational materials.

In addition to retail services, Amazon will share anonymized data with NCERT to enhance decision-making regarding future print runs, distribution strategies, and the selection of distributors based on regional demand. This data-sharing initiative will improve the overall supply chain for educational materials.

Furthermore, NCERT aims to triple its textbook publication for the 2025-26 academic session, aiming to publish 15 crore books. This is part of a larger effort to ensure that textbooks, which account for nearly 96% of book sales in India, are readily available to every student.

Shri Pradhan also discussed the need for AI-driven, interactive e-books to make learning more engaging for 300 million students during Amrit Kaal (the era of India's independence centenary). He called for innovations such as talking books and reiterated the importance of producing textbooks in all 23 official languages, highlighting that these books are a powerful cultural asset, or "soft power", for India.

Shri Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of DoSEL, reinforced the importance of improving the supply chain for educational resources, noting that e-commerce platforms like Amazon are crucial for ensuring timely access to textbooks. This partnership, Kumar added, will strengthen the country's educational framework by enabling direct feedback from customers, which NCERT can use to improve the quality and reach of its textbooks.

The launch of the Amazon NCERT storefront (http://amazon.in/ncert) will serve as a central hub for the sale of genuine NCERT textbooks. This digital platform will also offer cash-on-delivery options to further enhance accessibility for students across India.

This milestone marks a new chapter in ensuring equitable education, fostering a digitally empowered society, and advancing the National Education Policy 2020's objectives of inclusivity, accessibility, and quality learning for all.