The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) will release its new textbooks for Class IX, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, for the academic year 2026-27 by April 15, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani said on Thursday.
Addressing a webinar organized by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) at its headquarters in Dwarka, Saklani said most of the class IX textbooks are currently in the printing stage and the process has been delayed due to extensive consultations among experts involved in developing them.
Saklani said that about 4,000 experts are participating in writing the new textbooks. “Earlier, NCERT textbooks were often written by one person or a small group of two to four authors, resulting in different viewpoints. This does not mean that those books were of low quality. Generations have studied them and become doctors, engineers and government employees. Now, around 4,000 experts are involved in writing the new textbooks, which naturally requires more time due to detailed discussions among them to arrive at a conclusion,” he added.
NCERT has already released the new textbooks for classes 1 to 8.
“Most of the ninth-grade textbooks are ready and being printed. With the exception of one or two books, all the textbooks will be released between April 10 and 15. The remaining books require more careful review, as they often attract intense discussion and controversy after publication. We are doing our best to minimize such controversies,” said Saklani.
In February 2026, the Supreme Court had criticized NCERT over Chapter 8 of the textbook containing a section on “corruption in the judiciary”, terming it a “calculated attempt” to undermine the dignity of the court. As a result, NCERT issued an unconditional apology and recalled over 80,000 copies to rewrite the chapter content.
The update on the textbook release comes on the heels of a crucial NCERT advisory issued on March 17, which said while Class 9 will move to the new NCF compliant textbooks from the academic year 2026-27, students in classes 10 and 11 will be introduced to them from the 2027-2028 academic session onwards.
Until the new textbooks reach classrooms, he urged school principals to align school culture with NCF-SE 2023, stressing the need for better understanding of student psychology and improved infrastructure.
The new academic session began in over 32,900 CBSE schools on April 1, and it is mandatory for all its schools to use NCERT textbooks for classes 9 to 12.
Meanwhile, CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh said that non-availability of physical textbooks does not mean that learning stops in classrooms. Referring to the syllabi for different subjects available on the CBSE website, Singh said schools do not need to wait for textbooks to start teaching. “We urge schools to start classroom transactions based on the curriculum already available. For languages, teachers can start with grammar components. In mathematics and science, elementary subjects can be covered, and social sciences curriculum can also be introduced,” he said.
