CBSE clarifies: Viral Class 9 chapter on dating, relationships not from CBSE, NCERT book

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued clarification on CBSE Class 9 chapter on dating and relationship after the images of the textbook went viral on social media platforms. Rubbishing the claims made on X, the CBSE board said it does not publish books and that a section of media is “wrongly attributing” a book to be a publication of CBSE.

Several reports lauded and called it a progressive approach taken by the board. Reacting to the pictures on the Class 9 book, Tinder India, a dating app, commented: “next chapter : how to deal with breakups” along with a crying smiley.

Following this, the CBSE on its X account posted: “A section of media is wrongly attributing a book to be a publication of CBSE containing objectionable material on dating and relationships according to the reports. This is totally baseless and incorrect. The contents of the chapter which are going viral on Social Media are in fact from a book titled A Guide to Self Awareness and Empowerment written by Gagan Deep Kaur and Published by G.Ram Books(P)Ltd. Educational Publishers. The CBSE neither publishes any books nor recommends books of any private publishers.”

G. Ram Books(P) Ltd also clarified that the book on mental health and well-being for Classes 1-10 is not published by CBSE or NCERT, as being circulated on the Internet. On its official X account, the publisher posted: "We are grateful for the positive response that our chapter on Dating & Relationships has garnered on social media. We hope to continue creating more revolutionary educational content for the promotion of positive mental health of students, thoughtfully and responsibly."

The viral CBSE Class 9 textbook images of the chapter dating and relationships left several surprised and some wondering if “it was real!” The chapter also explains the dating terms like ghosting, catfishing and cyberbullying. It also has short stories explaining about teenage love.

“The biggest downside of getting into a serious relationship during teenage years is the possible heartbreak it may cause,” a X user highlighted a sentence from the textbook and shared the image.