The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) on 10 March 2026 issued an unconditional and unqualified public apology regarding a controversial chapter in its newly released Class 8 Social Science textbook.
The council has completely withdrawn the textbook titled ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Part II),’ from circulation, it said in a statement, two weeks after the Supreme Court imposed a blanket ban on the social science textbook.
The apology centers on Chapter IV, ‘The Role of Judiciary in our Society,’ which contained a sub-section titled “Corruption in the Judiciary.’ The chapter discussed challenges such as judicial corruption, a massive backlog of cases (citing 47 million pending cases in lower courts), and a lack of adequate judges.
The apology comes a day ahead of a scheduled hearing on March 11 in the suo moto case in the apex court.
The apology read, “The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has recently published a social science textbook ‘Exploring Society: India and Beyond’ Grade 8 (Part-II), which contained Chapter IV titled ‘The Role of Judiciary in our Society’. The Director and Members of NCERT hereby tender an unconditional and unqualified apology for the said Chapter IV. The entire book has been withdrawn and is not available.”
The Supreme Court, led by chief justice Surya Kant, had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter, describing the content as a “calculated move to undermine” and “defame” the institution. The court warned that such content could fall under criminal contempt. The court had imposed a complete ban on the publication, reprinting, and digital dissemination of the book.
