The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has dismissed reports that the Preamble to the Constitution has been removed from the new Class 9 Social Science textbook, clarifying that these reports are false and do not reflect the changes that have been made in the revised National Curriculum Framework (NCF).
According to NCERT sources, the curriculum was redesigned to cover constitutional ideas at different grade levels instead of just in one textbook. The council maintained that the Preamble is still being found in the opening pages of all newly published NCERT textbooks, including the Class 9 Social Science book.
Media also reported on an image of the Preamble written in the introductory pages of the revised textbook, denying that it had been omitted.
NCERT also explained that core constitutional values such as “justice, liberty, equality, secularism and socialism” are introduced progressively from Classes 6 to 8, particularly in the Class 7 Social Science curriculum, while the Constitution and its principles are discussed in more detail in the Class 10 textbook.
The clarification comes after several reports claimed that references to the Preamble and terms such as "secular" and "secularism" had been dropped from the new Class 9 Social Science syllabus, triggering political reactions and public debate.
Besides clarifying the controversy, NCERT has also added a section on the 1975 Emergency in the Class 9 Social Science textbook entitled ‘Understanding Society: India and Beyond’. This is the first time the Emergency has been included in the Class 9 curriculum.
The chapter says the Emergency imposed by then-Indira Gandhi’s government was “one of the major challenges to democracy in India” and that public anger in the early 1970s, fuelled by rising unemployment, inflation and claims of misgovernance, led to widespread protests before the Emergency was declared in June 1975 on the grounds of “internal disturbance.”
The Emergency chapter was added shortly after India celebrated its 51st anniversary of the Emergency, which is still one of the most debated chapters in the country's democratic history.
With this clarification, NCERT has sought to reassure students, parents and educators that the Constitution's foundational values are still in the curriculum and that the reorganisation of the National Curriculum Framework will focus on broadening learning across grades to get a better understanding.
