The Indian Government has launched an investigation and prohibited the distribution of a new NCERT Class 8 textbook due to political uproar from an included chapter related to corruption in the court, a Supreme Court intervention, and a public apology issued by NCERT.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said his officials will ensure accountability of the controversial content while Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will ensure action will be taken against those responsible. The Government has now acted to prohibit the textbook from being distributed via any electronic media or digital platform.
Supreme Court Orders the Ban and Seizure of Book Covers
The controversy involves an 8th Grade Social Science Textbook Published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), entitled : Exploring Society – India and Beyond.
The Supreme Court of India took suo motu cognisance on the matter and has imposed a blanket ban on the textbook being re-printed and redistributed and has further ordered that all physical and electronic copies of the book be seized and compliance with this order be reported.
The Bench stated that it found the references in the book were “selective in content and have not satisfied its criteria for inclusion and the underlying criteria for including the references may have been intentionally and otherwise, motivefully and based was not satisfied”.
Within hours of the Court’s order, NCERT withdrew the textbooks and acknowledged that the subject matter referenced in the Material is “inappropriate textual material and an error of judgment.”
Content of the Controversial Chapter
The controversial chapter entitled “The Role of the Judiciary in our Society” addressed some of the significant problems in India’s judicial system, such as, judicial corruption, backlog of cases, and a shortage of judges.
The chapter indicated that judges are bound by a code of conduct and mentioned instances of judicial corruption as one of the main structural issues in the judicial system. The chapter encouraged students to explore governance and public institutions from a more critical perspective.
The officials confirmed that, although a lawyer was involved in the drafting of this chapter, the Educational Materials Act does not provide for any independent legal review of public-school textbooks as a pre-requisite to distribution.
Government launches probe and stops dissemination
Following the court’s action, the Ministry of Education sent letters to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology requiring that they stop the digital distribution of the withdrawn book.
Dharmendra Pradhan expressed his feelings of great sadness regarding this event and also expressed the “highest respect for the judiciary” by the Government of India. He also stated that there is currently an investigation being conducted into this incident and that that responsible will be held accountable.
Dinesh Prasad Saklani, NCERT Director, is reviewing why the content was approved despite multiple levels of review.
The broader implications for education and academic freedom
The textbook is one of many revisions made by NCERT due to changes related to NEP 2020 and developed during the years 2023 to 2025.
Currently, the incident raises additional concerns surrounding textbook oversight, academic freedom, and the balance between being legally sensitive and providing an education that develops critical thinkers.
Also, the event increases scrutiny towards curriculum development in India where textbooks have a significant impact on educating students about their civic responsibilities.
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What happens next
Officials will be held accountable for their roles in approving the content and will revise and issue the content before it is published again in the future.
The results of the review may change the way NCERT reviews it’s textbooks, particularly those dealing with sensitive subjects regarding constitutional institutions.
As of now, the textbook has been pulled off and represents an extremely high-profile controversy in the curriculum over the past number of years.
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