The Supreme Court is set to address concerns over “objectionable” references to the judiciary in a Class 8 social science textbook published by NCERT. Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi will preside over the case titled ‘In Re: Social Science Textbook For Grade-8 (part-2) Published by NCERT and Ancillary Issues’. This issue arose after the Chief Justice expressed discontent with a chapter on judicial corruption in the NCERT Class 8 curriculum.
Following the Supreme Court’s criticism, NCERT removed the controversial textbook from its official website. The government reportedly disapproved of the contentious topic’s inclusion in the publication. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, along with Abhishek Singhvi, brought the matter to the court’s attention, urging prompt consideration.
The Class 8 social science textbook by NCERT addresses challenges confronting the judicial system, such as corruption, a backlog of cases, and a shortage of judges. A section in the revised textbook discusses the judiciary’s corruption, emphasizing the code of conduct that governs judges’ behavior both inside and outside the courtroom. The Supreme Court will now review the content and its potential implications.
