The NCERT is set to add new chapters to its Class VI mathematics and social sciences textbooks a year after revising them, amid criticism that the revised books lack key content that is part of the syllabus.

Two members of the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC), which develops education material for Classes III to XII, told The Telegraph that additions would be made to the two Class VI textbooks. They did not reveal much about what would be added.

Both the new textbooks issued this year seemed to have been brought out in a hurry. The new mathematics book for Class VI, Ganita Prakash, was printed in August, four months into the academic session. The social science book, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, was printed in July.

Unlike the maths book used till last year (the 2023-24 academic session), the new one lacks content on decimals, algebra and ratio, which are part of the current Class VI maths syllabus.

Two schoolteachers said the new maths book contains very few exercises, too. “We are asking the children to do all the exercises from last year’s mathematics book. We hope the NCERT adds more questions in the ‘Figure it out’ section,” a teacher said.

An NSTC member said the chapters to be added to the book for the 2025-26 session were likely to include one on decimals but did not provide more details.

The new Class VI social science textbook being used this year has been criticised for dropping the chapters on the transition from hunting-gathering to agriculture, Ashoka’s renunciation of war, and rural and urban livelihoods.

Michel Danino, a visiting professor at IIT Gandhinagar and a key NSTC member, said “plans to add content to Grade 6 social science textbooks are taking shape” but didnot elaborate.

He said the new textbook for this year had been written on a “completely different basis, and a wholly new pedagogical approach in particular, and that any comparison with the older textbook istherefore irrelevant”.

The country’s largest school board, the Central Board of Secondary Education, uses only NCERT textbooks. Some state boards too prescribe certain NCERT books for their students.

“The (maths and social science) books made available to Class VI students at CBSE schools this year are incomplete. This violates the Right to Education Act, which says the standard of school education must be maintained,” said Ashok Agrawal, a member of Delhi University’s “court”, an advisory body to the university’s executive council.

Agrawal wondered how this year’s Class VI students would cope with mathematics and social sciences in Class VII next year, having been denied education on certain basic topics.

Bagless days

The Directorate of Education on Tuesday issued guidelines for the implementation of 10 bagless days across government and private schoolsin Delhi.

In a circular, the DoE directed the heads of all schools to implement 10 bagless days in schools for students of Classes VI to VIII. The guidelines have been developed by the NCERT.

Additional reporting by PTI