NCERT Issues Clarification For Class 8 Social Science Book | Education

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has issued a clarification regarding Class 8 Social Science textbook ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond’. The Council has replied to the certain news pieces stating that the recently released Class 8 Social Science textbook has removed references to the regional resistance movements.

NCERT has refuted such claims and has clarified that the textbook released recently is only the first part, and the topics in question have been added in the second volume of the book. “It is clarified that the said textbook happens to be the 1st volume of this textbook. The second volume is in final stages of development and is expected to be released in Sept-Oct 2025. Topics relating to the regional resistance movements/armed uprisings such as the Paika rebellion/Khurda uprising of Odisha, the Kuka movement/rebellion of the Sikhs in Punjab etc, will be handled in this volume,” the official statement from NCERT read.

The part 1 of the Class 8 textbook in question introduces students to Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Marathas and more. This book emphasises “many instances of religious intolerance” during the Mughal era. NCERT had issued a clarification about this too. “This textbook attempts to provide an idea about the geography, history (medieval & modern), economic life and governance of the country, from a multi-disciplinary perspective in an integrated way,” the NCERT statement read. “Class 8 being the last year of the middle stage, the students are expected to acquire broad multidisciplinary perspective in understanding of our past between 13th to Mid-19th century and how the various events of that period have helped to shape and influenced the evolution of India of today.”

The books also references ‘brutal and ruthless conqueror’ Babur’s wiping off ‘entire populations of cities’, and Aurangzeb destroying temples and gurdwaras, in the ‘Note on Some Darker Periods in History’ section. NCERT claimed this section was added to “avoid generation of any prejudice and misunderstanding”.

“A cautionary note has been inserted in one of the chapters to make it clear that no one should be held responsible today for events of the past. The emphasis is on an honest approach to history with a view to drawing from it important lessons for a better future,” NCERT earlier said in a statement.

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