Mumbai, March 11: The Supreme Court has directed the removal of Professor Michel Denino and his team from the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum development process due to a controversial chapter titled “Corruption in the Judiciary” included in the Class 8 Social Science textbook.
The court instructed the central government, all state governments, and public-funded institutions to ensure that Professor Denino, along with his colleagues Diwakar and Alok Prasanna Kumar, are excluded from any curriculum development activities. Additionally, they are barred from participating in the finalization of next-generation textbooks.
The chapter, prepared by Professor Denino and his team, has come under scrutiny for allegedly attempting to portray a negative image of the Indian judiciary to young students. The Chief Justice of India, CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, emphasized that such representations could adversely affect the perceptions of Class 8 students, who are impressionable at that age.
In a previous session on March 10, NCERT issued an unconditional apology regarding the chapter, which led to a halt in the sale of the textbook. The Supreme Court expressed its discontent, stating that the judiciary should not be defamed.
Following the court’s displeasure on February 25, the sale of the NCERT textbook containing the controversial chapter was suspended, and an internal meeting was convened to address the issue. The chapter has since been removed from the NCERT website.