NCERT clarifies Preamble not removed from Class 9 textbook, says content redistributed under new curriculum: Sources

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has clarified that the Preamble to the Constitution has not been removed from the revised Class 9 Social Science textbook, dismissing reports suggesting otherwise as misleading. The council said the changes are part of the curriculum redesign under the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

According to NCERT, constitutional themes have been redistributed across different grades instead of being covered in a single textbook. While the revised Class 9 book does not contain a separate chapter on the Preamble, it continues to appear in the opening pages of NCERT textbooks, and a detailed discussion on the Preamble has been shifted to the Class 10 curriculum.

NCERT also said that constitutional values such as justice, liberty, equality, secularism and socialism are introduced in Classes 6 to 8 and will be explored in greater detail in higher classes. The council maintained that comparing the revised books with previous editions on a chapter-by-chapter basis is inappropriate because the new textbooks follow an integrated approach to teaching social sciences.

The clarification comes amid political controversy after reports claimed the revised textbook had omitted the Preamble while introducing a new section on the Emergency (1975–77). Opposition parties criticised the changes, while NCERT reiterated that the curriculum restructuring aims to reduce duplication and improve conceptual learning under the new education framework.