Agartala, Jan 22 (IANS): The BJP-led Tripura Government will impart training to some 40,660 school teachers to enable them to switch to the NCERT curriculum from the next academic session beginning April, a minister said here on Tuesday.

"For the first time in 43 years, NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training ) curriculum would be introduced in nearly 5,000 Tripura government-run schools from the 2019-20 academic session," Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath said.

He said in order to enable the switch to the NCERT curriculum from the existing Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) curriculum, the education department has undertaken a five-day training programme for the school teachers.

Experts from the NCERT are training these teachers in five phases.

Currently, these teachers teach 7.30 lakh government school students. Over 85 per cent of these students are taught in Bengali.

"Textbooks and other teaching materials of NCERT have been translated into Bengali for the purpose."

Earlier, a notification issued by the School Education Department said that following a close study, it has been observed that there are distinct variations and differences between the course curriculum and syllabi of TBSE and those of the national school syllabus developed by the NCERT.

"Consequently, most of the aspiring youths of Tripura cannot succeed in national level joint entrance examinations and professional competitions like the students and youth of other states, who are following the national school curriculum," the notification said.

"The government decision to start schools from 8 a.m. in the morning instead of the existing 11 a.m. has been postponed. A committee would be formed soon to study the change in school timings and after the findings are released, the next course of action would be taken," the Minister added.