MP News: Supreme Court Flags NCERT Chapter, National Judicial Academy To Help Frame Revised Syllabus

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The National Judicial Academy in Bhopal is set to work alongside the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to frame the Class 8 legal studies syllabus, following directions from the Supreme Court of India.

The Centre informed the Supreme Court that a three-member committee has been constituted to review the controversial chapter on “judicial corruption” in the NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook. The committee will coordinate with the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal to reassess the content and help design a revised, balanced syllabus.

The development comes after three academics, who were blacklisted by the Supreme Court for authoring the chapter, appeared before the court through their lawyers on Monday, seeking an opportunity to present their case.

The controversy stems from an NCERT Class 8 textbook chapter on “judicial corruption”, which prompted the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance.

On February 26, the court stayed the textbook and ordered the removal of its PDF version from official platforms. Despite a public apology and withdrawal by NCERT, the court objected to plans to reintroduce a revised chapter.

It directed that any rewritten content must be vetted by an expert committee constituted by the Centre, comprising a former senior judge, an academician and a legal practitioner. The responsibility of reviewing the material was assigned to the National Judicial Academy to ensure balanced and accurate representation of judicial institutions in school education.