6 August 2024: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has made significant changes to its curriculum for the current academic year, notably removing the Preamble to the Constitution from all Class 3 textbooks. The Preamble has been retained only in two Class 6 textbooks: the science book Curiosity and the Hindi textbook Malhar. Previously, the Preamble was included in multiple Class 6 textbooks, including those for Hindi, English, science, and social science.
In addition to this, the updated social science textbook Exploring Society: India and Beyond now features a section on fundamental rights and duties instead of the Preamble. This shift aligns with changes introduced by the National Education Policy of 2020.
The revisions also extend to other historical content. NCERT has removed or reduced sections dealing with Gandhi’s assassination, medieval history, caste issues, protest movements, and the Emergency. The agency has justified these cuts by citing the need to reduce the academic burden on students following the Covid pandemic and to “rationalize” content. Notably, coverage of the Babri Masjid demolition of 1992 and the 2002 Gujarat riots has been either shortened or eliminated, with NCERT arguing that such topics could foster negative emotions in students.
