Teachers in CBSE schools have a fresh set of free online courses to pick from this term. The board has asked its principals to share the details of the second cycle of NISHTHA courses for 2026-27, which runs from October 2026 to March 2027, and to encourage teachers to sign up.
The request is in CBSE circular TRG-21/2026 dated 7 October 2026, issued by the board's training unit and signed by Director (Training) Manoj K. Srivastava.
NISHTHA, the National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement, is the Ministry of Education's main professional development programme for teachers and school heads. The courses are hosted by CIET, a unit of NCERT.
What is on offer
Two courses sit under NISHTHA Category II, the proficiency courses: NISHTHA FLN, on foundational literacy and numeracy, and NISHTHA ECCE, on early childhood care and education. Both are meant for school heads and teachers of the foundational and preparatory stages, up to Class 5.
Category III, the advanced courses, is open to all school heads and teachers. It has five titles: Cyber Hygiene Practices: Personal Digital Devices; Environmental Hazards of Electronic Waste (E-waste); Action Research; and Catch the Rain, offered separately in English and in Hindi.
The circular lists 1 October 2026 as the start date, 10 March 2027 as the last date to enrol, and 15 March 2027 as the closing date for courses.
Why a school head might care
CBSE frames the courses as continuous professional development, a way for teachers to pick up newer teaching methods and respond to new priorities in schools. The board does not make the courses compulsory in this circular. It asks heads of schools to spread the word and encourage teachers to take them.
For a primary teacher, the FLN and ECCE courses line up directly with classroom work in the early grades. The cyber hygiene and e-waste modules are short practical topics that also suit teachers who run clubs or labs. Action research is the one that asks most of a teacher, since it means studying a problem in one's own classroom.
Catch the Rain takes its name from the national water conservation campaign, and the course suits teachers who run eco clubs or school rainwater projects. Since it comes in both English and Hindi, schools in Hindi-medium regions can enrol staff without a language barrier.
School heads may find it useful to map courses to staff instead of leaving it to chance: FLN and ECCE for teachers of Classes 1 to 5, cyber hygiene for whoever handles the school's computers and student data, e-waste for science and eco club teachers, and action research for senior teachers who mentor others.
A teacher can finish a course in spare periods over a few weeks, but the enrolment deadline in March falls in board exam season. Signing up early, before the winter rush, is the sensible plan.
The circular does not cap the number of courses a teacher may take in this cycle. Teachers who want more than one should read the course details on the CIET page first, and finish anything left over from the first cycle before starting something new.
The board has run other staff training this month too. Earlier this week it asked every school to screen a module on inclusive education for all staff, which we covered in our report on the CBSE inclusive education module. Physical education teachers have a separate national programme, set out in our story on the NSRS module for PE teachers.
How to join
The list of courses and joining details are on the CIET NISHTHA courses page. For help, the circular gives the NISHTHA helpdesk email, nishtha.helpdesk@ciet.nic.in, and toll-free number 8800440559.
Copies of the circular have gone to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, the Delhi Directorate of Education and other school systems with CBSE-affiliated schools, so teachers in those systems should hear about it through their own offices as well.
