CBSE Class 9 Social Science Syllabus 2026-27

Social Science Subject Code-087 Class - IX (2026-27)

RATIONALE

The purpose of the education system is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. It aims at producing engaged, productive and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution. [NEP 2020, pages 4-5]

Social Science is a compulsory subject at Secondary Stage Phase-I of school education. Social Science can play a unique role within the school curriculum to enable Knowledge, Capacities, and Values and Dispositions that underpin the purpose of education as committed to in NEP 2020.

The teaching and learning of Social Science at the secondary stage is aligned with the transformational vision of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NCF-SE 2023 emphasises learning, i.e., competency-based, inquiry-oriented, and rooted in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) and lived realities. The deliberate reduction of content load with a focus on core concepts rather than memorisation, creates space for discussion, exploration, and deep understanding. The framework's call for interdisciplinarity encourages students to draw meaningful connections across disciplines and relate classroom learning to real-life contexts and experiences.

Furthermore, the NCF-SE 2023 envisions rootedness in India, in which learning is grounded in India's diverse heritage and intellectual traditions, while also being combined with a global outlook. Within this perspective, Social Science education engages students with India's historical experiences, democratic values, and patterns of economic and social development, geographical understanding alongside global processes and contemporary challenges. By integrating the aims of the NEP 2020, Social Science education seeks to transform learning into a process that builds knowledge, capacities, and values essential for personal growth, social harmony and national progress.

Social Science at the secondary stage is an integrated study of human society like its evolution, structures, and dynamics through the disciplines of History, Geography, Political Science, and Economics. It explores how societies function and transform over time through the interplay of historical, geographical, cultural, political, economic, and environmental forces. The subject goes beyond the factual understanding to include inquiry, interpretation, and analysis.

Students learn to source and validate information, interpret data and evidence, and construct logical explanations, thus fostering critical and reflective thinking. It also cultivates empathy, respect for diversity, and a sense of justice and responsibility — values that reflect India's intellectual traditions of reasoning, dialogue, and debate as pathways to truth and understanding.

AIMS & OBJECTIVE

As per NCF- 2023, the aims of teaching Social Science in school education can be summarised as follows:

1. Develop disciplinary knowledge and understanding of how society functions through an interplay of historical, geographical, social, economic, and political factors.

This can be enabled through:

1. an understanding of continuity and change in human civilisation, its causation and effect and its impact on modern life.
2. an understanding of the interaction between nature and human beings, the spatial patterns arising out of this interaction and its effect on human life.
3. an awareness and understanding of the diversity of people and their practices in different societies, regions and cultures within societies.
4. an awareness of various social, political and economic institutions, their origin, functioning and transformations over time.
5. Develop an understanding and appreciation for the methods of enquiry relevant to Social Science and deepen students' skills to engage with the key questions and issues confronting society.

These could be specifically seen as:

1. Skills in sourcing evidence, interpreting them, checking through multiple sources and evidences and constructing a coherent narrative.
2. Skills in recognizing spatial patterns, map-reading, interpretation and analysis of various interconnected concepts and processes.
3. Skills of creative and analytical thinking to form informed opinions, demonstrate logical decision-making and incline towards a problem-solving attitude.
4. Skills to collect, organize, analyse, represent, and present data and information on various historical, geographical, and socio-political issues.
5. Skills to question unsubstantiated ideas, biases, stereotypes, and assumptions to foster scientific temper and propose meaningful responses to contemporary concerns of society.

c. Foster ethical, human, and Constitutional values:

As the NEP 2020 emphasises to foster a "democratic outlook and commitment to liberty and freedom; equality, justice, and fairness; embracing diversity, plurality, and inclusion; humaneness and fraternal spirit; social responsibility and the spirit of service; ethics of integrity and honesty; scientific temper and commitment to rational and public dialogue; peace; social action through Constitutional means; unity and integrity of the nation, and a true rootedness and pride in India with a forward-looking spirit to continuously improve as a nation.

NOTE-Refer to NCF-2023-Page no-320-323 2

In alignment with the NEP 2020, Social Science education seeks to develop responsible human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion, empathy, courage, resilience, scientific temper, and creative imagination — qualities that prepare them to contribute meaningfully to the nation and humanity.

Studying Social Science is essential for developing informed, empathetic, and active citizens. It enables learners to situate themselves within broader social, cultural and environmental contexts, and to recognise their role in shaping them. Through this subject, students understand the origins of democratic values, Constitutional principles, and India's civilisational ethos of unity in diversity. They also develop awareness of pressing issues such as inequality, conflict, environmental degradation and economic challenges, and learn to respond to them with evidence-based reasoning and ethical reflection. Social Science thus, bridges knowledge and action, encouraging learners to think critically about society and participate responsibly and effectively in it.

CURRICULAR GOALS-CG

As per NCF 2023 - At the Secondary Stage, students will go into details to understand India's past and appreciate its complexity, diversity, and unity brought about by cultural integration and the sharing of knowledge traditions across geographical and linguistic boundaries. NCF 2023 Page no -154

CG-1 Understands and analyses the important phases in Indian history and draws insights to understand present-day India

<math>\blacktriangle</math> CG -2 Analyses the important phases in world history and draw insight to understand the present-day world

CG-3 Understands the idea of a nation and the emergence of the modern Indian Nation

• CG -4 Develops an understanding of the inter-relationship between human beings and their physical environment and how that influences the livelihoods, cultural diversity, and biodiversity of the region

<math>\blacktriangle</math> CG -5 Understand the Indian Constitution and explores the essence of Indian democracy and the characteristics of a democratic government.

<math>\blacktriangle</math> CG -6 Understand and analyse social, cultural, and political life in India over time – as well as the underlying historical Indian ethos and philosophy of unity in diversity – and recognises challenges faced in these areas in the past and present and the efforts (being) made to address them

<math>\blacktriangle</math> CG -7 Develop an understanding of the inter-relationship between human beings and their physical environment and how that influences the livelihoods, cultural diversity, and biodiversity of the region

<math>\blacktriangle</math> CG -8 Evaluate the economic development of a country in terms of its impact on the lives of its people and nature

• CG-9 Understand and appreciate the contribution of India through history and present times, to the overall field of Social Science, and the disciplines that constitute it

COMPETENCIES

Competencies are specific learning achievements that are observable and can be assessed systematically. In NCF, Competencies are directly derived from a Curricular Goal and are 3

expected to be attained by the end of a Stage. The following competencies need to be developed in students to achieve the curricular goals at secondary stage.

• CG-1.1 Explains the historical events and processes using different types of sources with specific examples from Indian history

CG-1.2 Explains and analyses the chronology of human life on the Indian subcontinent, from prehistory to its civilisational beginnings and beyond, and its relations with other civilisations over time, such as those in Mesopotamia, Greece, Central Asia, China, Southeast Asia, Arabia, and Eastern Africa

CG-1.3 Traces aspects of continuity and change in different phases of history across the Indian subcontinent (including cultural trends, social and religious trends and reforms, and economic and political transformations)

• CG-1.4 Explains the growth of new indigenous ideas across India in Mathematics, Philosophy, Science and Technology, Medicine, Architecture, Agriculture, Literature and Art, and Social Science (such as zero and the Indian number system, ahimsa, the six systems of Indian philosophy, Ayurveda, yoga, the 22 shrutis of Indian music, horticulture, use of herbs and spices, etymology, meters, and grammar) and how they affected the course of the Indian history

• C-2.1 Explains historical events and processes with different types of sources with specific examples from India and world history.

C-2.3 Traces aspects of continuity and change in different phases of world history (including) cultural trends, social and religious reforms, and economic and political transformations)

• C-2.4 Explains the growth of new ideas and practices across the world (including humanism, mercantilism, industrialisation, scientific developments and explorations, imperialism, colonialism, the rise of the new nation states across the world, and various technologies including the most current) and how they affected the course of world history.

• C-2.5 Recognises the various practices that arose, such as those in C-2.4, and came to be condemned later on (such as racism, slavery, colonial invasions, conquests, and plunder, genocides, exclusion of women from democratic and other institutions), all of which have also impacted the course of world history and have left unhealed wounds.

• C 3.1 Analyses the meaning of nation and how the concept evolved over time across the world and in the specific context of India, including its roots in the rich civilisational history of the Indian subcontinent

C3.2 Identifies and analyses important phases of the Indian national freedom struggle against British colonial rule, with special reference to the movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and other important figures as well as those that led to independence, and understands the specific Indian concepts, values, and methods (such as Swaraj, Swadeshi, passive resistance, fight for dharma self- sacrifice, ahimsa) that played a part in achieving Independence.

• C-4.1 Locates physiographic regions of India and the climatic zones of the world on a globe/map.

C-4.2 Explains important geographical concepts, characteristics of key landforms, their origin, and other physical factors of a region

• C-4.3 Draws inter- linkages between various components of the physical environment, such as climate and relief, climate and vegetation, vegetation, and wildlife.

C-4.4 Analyses and evaluates the inter- relationship between the natural environment and human beings and their cultures across regions and, in the case of India, the special environmental ethos that resulted in practices of nature conservation