Honor the judiciary and express regret for what transpired: Education Minister on the dispute over NCERT textbooks

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan declared that the government would fully abide by the court’s orders after the Supreme Court suspended the contentious NCERT Class 8 Social Science chapter on “judicial corruption” and issued contempt summons.

“We respect the judiciary, and whatever the court has said, we will fully comply with it. I am deeply saddened by what has happened and express my regret over the incident,” he said while speaking in Jamshedpur.

He added that as soon as the matter came to his notice, he directed NCERT to take corrective steps. “There was absolutely no intention to disrespect the judiciary, and the government had no such motive. We are taking this matter seriously, and an inquiry will be conducted,” he said.

Pradhan further stated that those involved in preparing the book and the concerned chapter would face appropriate action. “We have complete faith in the judiciary it is our constitutional and moral responsibility to abide by its directions,” he said, assuring citizens that the government remains committed to respecting the court’s orders.

Following the Supreme Court of India’s decision to completely prohibit the printing and distribution of the updated Class 8 Social Science Part 2 textbook, the comments were made.The court ordered that all copies, digital and physical, be taken out of the public domain right away. Additionally, it mandated that the withdrawn book not be used for instruction in classrooms.

It was the responsibility of the NCERT Director to ensure that copies that had already been issued to schools were seized and to file a compliance report. All states’ principal secretaries of education were instructed to carry out the directive and provide reports in a week.The court also requested the original minutes of meetings where the material was decided upon, as well as the identities and qualifications of the participants in the chapter’s composition.

A chapter in the recently published 2026 edition of the Class 8 Social Science textbook titled “The Role of Judiciary in our Society” was at the center of the dispute.

Citing thousands of pending cases in the Supreme Court, lakhs in High Courts, and crores in district courts, the chapter discussed accusations of corruption in the judiciary and emphasized case backlogs. Additionally, it described how judges are impeached. NCERT stopped distributing the book after hearing a lot of objections. Only 38 of the 2.25 lakh copies that were printed were apparently sold prior to the start of the recall procedure.  What started out as a curriculum update under the National Education Policy revisions has now turned into a case involving administrative responsibility and judicial scrutiny regarding textbook representations of institutions.