New Delhi: With the latest withdrawal of a chapter from the Class 8 NCERT book, it is now the fifth major rollback of a decision by the education ministry in 18 months. Each rollback has come after the ministry or the various organisations under it announced changes to the existing format/rulebook, triggering debates and protests that have snowballed into political standoffs and often landed in the Supreme Court.The latest case involves the new Class 8 NCERT textbook, which has referred to ‘corruption in judiciary‘, earning a suo motu notice from the apex court which termed these as ‘defamatory’ and ‘selective’. Left red-faced, the ministry had to ask NCERT to withdraw the new textbooks, review the content afresh and revise the textbook ahead of the 2026-27 academic session.
The latest rollback comes barely a month after the SC stayed the UGC‘s draft Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, which were notified on January 13 and aimed at replacing the 2012 anti-discrimination framework.
The draft regulations were quick to spark protests across several states and generate a political debate ultimately landing in the SC on account of multiple petitions challenging the draft rulebook over the absence of penalties for ‘false complaints’ on discrimination. On January 29, 2026, the SC stayed the draft regulations and ordered reverting to the 2012 rules pending a hearing on March 19, 2026.
Two months before the SC stayed the UGC draft rulebook, the education ministry again found itself in political crosshairs after its October 28, 2025, notification on a massive restructuring of the Panjab University’s Senate and Syndicate had political parties in Punjab up in arms — from AAP to SAD and Congress, besides the student and teacher community. On November 7, 2025, the ministry rolled back its notification and said it would review and issue a final notification later.
Earlier in the year, the draft of the UGC (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment and Promotion of Teachers) Regulations, 2025, issued on 06.01.2025 ran into trouble with Opposition-ruled states over a clause that gave Chancellors (Governors) the power to appoint chairperson of the Selection Committee for Vice Chancellors in state-run universities.
Six states issued a 15-point resolution of the draft alleging centralisation and political overreach. Amid the backlash, the Centre extended the deadline for public comments to February end 2025 and has been processing thousands of suggestions received.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education underlined, in its March 2025 report, that UGC should review the draft regulations and ensure that they “do not transgress the exclusive jurisdiction of respective legislatures, and the Acts passed by them to govern central and state universities”. The notification on final regulations is still pending.
The education ministry faced an even bigger crisis in 2024 when it was faced with the NEET-UG exam paper leak controversy. It had to reckon with a questioning of the compensatory ‘grace marks’ mechanism devised by the National Testing Authority (NTA) for computing the 04.06.2024 exam results.
NTA was forced to rollback its grace marks formula and conduct a retest with the SC stepping into the picture. The ministry set up a high-level committee to examine the leak case and the larger gaps in the NTA’s functioning and the exam conducting mechanisms. Implementation of its recommendations is still underway.
