NCERT clarifies Grade 9 maths syllabus, says no overall topics were dropped

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has clarified that its draft school syllabus should not be assessed simply by counting the number of textbook chapters or matching chapter titles with entries in the syllabus.

The clarification, issued on Sep 25, comes amid discussion over changes in the Grade 9 Mathematics syllabus. NCERT said that under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, school curriculum is structured around Curricular Goals, Competencies and Learning Outcomes.

The council said the draft syllabus released earlier was intended as an initial proposal for feedback from teachers, students and educators. The syllabus will be finalised and released in October by NCERT/CBSE, according to the clarification.

NCERT says topics were reorganised, not removed

Addressing concerns over the Grade 9 Mathematics draft syllabus, NCERT said no overall topics were dropped. Instead, some concepts that might traditionally have appeared as separate chapters have been incorporated into other chapters.

For example, several ideas and applications related to Lines and Angles are covered in the Grade 9 Part 2 chapters on Propositions and Their Converses and Quadrilaterals. NCERT noted that Lines and Angles had already been covered as a dedicated chapter in the Grade 6 Ganita Prakash textbook.

The council also said concepts related to Euclidean geometry are addressed across Chapters 5, 6, 9, 12 and 13 of the Grade 9 Mathematics textbook.

Why there is no separate Euclidean geometry chapter

NCERT said it decided, following consultation and feedback from teachers and educators, not to retain the traditional abstract chapter based on axioms, theorems and proofs as a standalone unit.

Instead, students will encounter the core concepts and their applications across different chapters. The approach is intended to develop conceptual understanding through the broader organisation of the textbook rather than through a single traditional unit.

The NCF-SE describes Curricular Goals, Competencies and Learning Outcomes as the framework through which learning standards are developed. It states that Learning Outcomes guide students towards achieving Competencies, which in turn contribute to Curricular Goals.

Algorithms added to Grade 9 Mathematics

NCERT also explained the inclusion of a chapter on algorithms in Grade 9 Mathematics.

The council said the rapid development of artificial intelligence has made it important for students to understand mathematical ideas related to algorithms, data structures and running-time efficiency.

NCERT said computational thinking has become increasingly important under the NEP framework. While a separate module on AI is also being developed, the council said students should encounter the mathematical concepts underlying AI through Mathematics as well.

NCERT said its new textbooks are designed to help students achieve the Curricular Goals, Competencies and Learning Outcomes prescribed under NEP 2020 and NCF-SE 2023.

The council said textbooks are among the teaching-learning resources used to achieve these goals.

NCERT has advised schools, teachers, school boards and other stakeholders to plan classroom teaching and assessment with reference to competencies rather than determining curriculum coverage only by comparing the number of textbook chapters with entries in a syllabus document.