New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) History professor Dinesh Prasad Saklani has been appointed as the new Director of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), according to Ministry of Education officials.

"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,” a senior MoE official said.

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

He previously taught for eight years in the tourism department and IAS (pre) coaching Centre of HNB Garhwal University as a guest faculty and was a visiting fellow in the Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He was selected as a Lecturer at HNB Garhwal University in May 1992.

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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 new National Curriculum Framework.

Presently, he 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 had not a full-time director since November 2020 when the five-year term of previous full-time director Hrushikesh Senapaty ended. Since then, Sridhar Srivastava has been holding the position as director in-charge.PTI GJS GJS

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