NCERT introduces new class 9 English textbook with more Indian authors

NCERT has introduced a new Class 9 English textbook titled "Kaveri" under the NCF-SE 2023. The revised book reduces the number of texts and includes more works by Indian authors such as Subramania Bharati, Sudha Murty, Temsula Ao and Rabindranath Tagore

New Delhi: Texts from Indian authors such as Tamil poet Subramania Bharati, Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty, Naga writer Temsula Ao, Rabindranath Tagore and Assamese novelist Mitra Phukan have found a place in the new English textbook by NCERT for class 9.

In the previous textbooks taught in schools between the 2006-07 and 2025-26 academic sessions, 15 of the 29 texts were written by international authors.

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According to officials, the number of textbooks for the subject has been reduced from two to one and the number of texts from 29 to 16, including as many texts from Indian authors as from international authors.

The new Class 9 English textbook called “Kaveri” opens with a story taken from a 2004 book, “How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories” by Rajya Sabha MP and author Sudha Murty.

The book, prepared as per the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023, will replace the earlier textbooks “Beehive” and “Moments.” The new Class 9 textbook containing “elements of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS)” has 16 texts — eight by Indian authors, including Subramania Bharati, Sudha Murty, Temsula Ao, Mitra Phukan and Rabindranath Tagore, and six by foreign writers such as David Roth, Charles Swain, Bryanna T Perkins, Robert Langley, Maya Anthony and Irene Chua.

Six texts are by foreign writers such as American poet David Roth, English poet Charles Swain, American children’s writer Bryanna T Perkins, poet Robert Langley, writer Maya Anthony and Singapore-based author Irene Chua.

The book also includes an anonymous poem, “Gifts of Grace: Honouring Our Vocations”, and an interview-based piece titled “The World of Limitless Possibilities”, featuring an interview with Paralympic athlete Deepa Malik.