Hours after the Supreme Court of India registered a suo motu case on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) over the inclusion of a section on “corruption” in the judiciary in the NCERT’s newest Social Science textbook for Class 8, the National Council for Educational Research and Training issued a statement apologising for the “inappropriate textual material” and “error in judgement” that had “inadvertently crept” into the chapter in question.
Officials said directions had been issued on February 24 (Tuesday) to keep the distribution of this book on “strict hold until further orders”. On Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court registered the suo motu case, calling the section “a selective reference”, even as the NCERT apologised in its statement later that night saying “it regrets this error of judgement”.
A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi is scheduled to hear the case titled ‘In Re: Social Science Textbook for Grade-8 (Part 2) published by NCERT and ancillary issues’ at 10.30 a.m. on February 26.
The chapter ‘The Role of the Judiciary in Our Society’ in the Class 8 Social Science book prescribed by NCERT mentions that corruption, a massive backlog of cases, and a lack of adequate number of judges were among the “challenges” faced by the judicial system. The section on “corruption in the judiciary” in the book states that judges were bound by a code of conduct that governed not only their behaviour in court but also how they conducted themselves outside of it.
In its statement, the NCERT said the textbook was brought out “as per extant procedure”, adding that the “inappropriate textual material” and “error in judgement” had been “observed” “on receiving the textbook”. It said that the Department of School Education also made similar observations.
Government officials said the direction to stop the distribution of the book was issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy on February 24 (Tuesday). In the statement, the NCERT said the directions “had been complied with”.
“The National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT) holds the judiciary in highest esteem and considers it to be the upholder of the Indian Constitution and protector of Fundamental Rights. The aforesaid error is purely unintentional and NCERT regrets the inclusion of inappropriate material in the said chapter,” the NCERT said in the statement.
The NCERT said that the objective of the new textbook is to “strengthen constitutional literacy, institutional respect, and informed understanding of democratic participation amongst students”, adding that “there is no intent to question or diminish the authority of any constitutional body”.
It said that since NCERT remains “open to constructive feedback” as “part of its continuous review process”, the material in question “shall be re-written, with consultation of the appropriate authority, as necessary, and would be made available to students of Class 8 accordingly on the commencement of academic session 2026-27”.
The NCERT reiterated its “resolve to continuously work for institutional sanctity and respect”.
Published – February 26, 2026 12:52 am IST
