Teachers and school heads have a fresh batch of free online training to sign up for. CBSE has reopened the second cycle of its NISHTHA courses for the academic year 2026-27, with enrolment running right through the winter. The courses started on 1 October 2026 and the window to join closes on 10 March 2027.
NISHTHA stands for National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement, a flagship teacher-training programme of the Ministry of Education. The CBSE NISHTHA Courses 2026-27 fall under two heads: Category II (Proficiency Courses) and Category III (Advanced Courses), all delivered online.
What CBSE NISHTHA Courses 2026-27 offers
Category II has two courses, both meant for school heads and teachers of the Foundational and Preparatory stage, that is up to grade 5:
- NISHTHA FLN
- NISHTHA ECCE
Category III is wider. It is open to all school heads and teachers, whatever the class they handle, and carries five courses:
- Cyber Hygiene Practices: Personal Digital Devices
- Environmental Hazards of Electronic Waste (E-waste)
- Action Research
- Catch the Rain (English)
- Catch the Rain (Hindi)
Dates to mark
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| Course starting date | 01 October 2026 |
| Enrolment closing date | 10 March 2027 |
| Course closing date | 15 March 2027 |
So while the learning itself stays open till 15 March 2027, nobody can enrol after 10 March. Teachers who want these certificates should not leave it to the last week.
How to join
The full list of courses and the steps to join them are on the NISHTHA portal. Teachers can access them here: https://ciet.ncert.gov.in/NISHTHA_Courses.
Stuck somewhere? CBSE has pointed teachers to the NISHTHA helpdesk. Write to nishtha.helpdesk@ciet.nic.in or call the toll-free numbers 8800440559.
The board has asked all principals and heads of affiliated schools to pass the word around and push their teachers to take up the courses. For staff teaching the early grades, the FLN and ECCE modules line up directly with what classrooms are already shifting toward under the new foundational-literacy push. The rest can pick from the Category III set, from e-waste and cyber hygiene to the two water-conservation modules under Catch the Rain.