The Preamble to the Constitution has been removed from several Class 3 and Class 6 textbooks issued by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) this year, The Telegraph reported. This change affects textbooks for key academic subjects, including languages and environmental studies (EVS).

The NCERT, which published textbooks between 2005 and 2008, is updating them in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) introduced by the NDA government in 2020. This year’s revisions include new textbooks for Classes 3 and 6, reflecting the latest National Curriculum Framework.

Earlier, Class 6 textbooks featured the Preamble in the initial pages of the Hindi textbook Durva, the English book Honey Suckle, the science book, and all three EVS books: Our Pasts-I, Social and Political Life-I, and The Earth Our Habitat.

In the newly revised editions, the Preamble appears only in the science book Curiosity and the Hindi book Malhar. The NCERT has consolidated the three EVS books into one, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, which does not include the Preamble but does cover fundamental rights and duties. The new mathematics textbook is not yet available.

The new English textbook, Poorvi, includes the national anthem, while the Sanskrit book Deepakam features both the national anthem and the national song, but omits the Preamble. The old Sanskrit book, Ruchira, also lacked the Preamble.

For Class 3, none of the updated textbooks for Hindi, English, mathematics, or the new World Around Us (which replaces EVS) includes the Preamble. The old EVS book Looking Around and the Hindi book Rimjhim 3 contained the Preamble.

Nandita Narain, a former faculty member at St Stephen’s College, Delhi University, expressed concern and said that the Preamble is a condensed version of the Constitution and cannot be substituted by the national anthem, national song, or fundamental rights and duties.

“The NCERT must clarify why the Preamble has been removed from several textbooks. I don’t believe this is a coincidence,” Narain said, per The Telegraph.

“I feel that the BJP government is afraid of the Preamble, which encompasses the core values of the Constitution like liberty, equality and fraternity. This government has acted against the core values of the Constitution. So it has removed the Preamble from so many books,” she added.