Recently, a piece of information was circulated on social media and by Indian and Bangladeshi media, claiming that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in India has included a chapter called ‘Dating and Relationship’ in their ninth-grade textbooks.

Check out related news articles on this topic published in various media outlets, including NDTV (India), News18 (India), Deccan Herald (India), India Times (India), India Today (India), The Times of India (India), Money Control (India), Times Now (India), Prothom Alo (Bangladesh), Bdnews24 (Bangladesh), and Somoy TV (Bangladesh).
See related X posts here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
See related Facebook posts here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).
Fact Check
An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that the CBSE did not introduce any chapter named ‘Dating and Relationship’ in the ninth-grade textbooks. Instead, a chapter from a book published by ‘G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd.’ was propagated with this claim.
Investigation into this claim led to a post published on February 2 by the official X (formerly Twitter) account of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which indicated that some media misrepresented a book containing objectionable content on dating and relationships as a publication of the CBSE, which is entirely baseless and incorrect. The content that went viral on social media belongs to a book named ‘A Guide to Self-Awareness and Empowerment’ published by ‘G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd. Educational Publishers.’ CBSE does not publish any books nor promotes any private publishers’ books.
Further investigation led to a statement published on February 2 by the X (formerly Twitter) account of ‘G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd.’
The statement from ‘G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd.’s authority stated, “We are overwhelmed with the immense support and positive feedback a chapter on ‘Dating & Relationships from our book ‘A Better You: A Guide to Self-awareness & Empowerment has received on social media.”
“We would further like to clarify that these books have not been published by CBSE or NCERT. They have been published by us at G. Ram Books (P.) Ltd., thoughtfully and responsibly, for the promotion of positive mental health of school students.”
The Rumor Scanner team spoke with Tency Mangal, the executive director of ‘G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd.’, who said, “This book is for students from 1-10th grade. Many schools have adopted it. The book was published after COVID-19, inspired by the mental health issues many people were going through.”
This matches a post (archive) on X by an individual named ‘Khushi,’ who probably first spread the claim on January 31, sharing two pages of the book and captioning it as “9th class textbooks nowadays.” The post went viral, and in it, she claimed it was a CBSE book, saying she saw it in her brother’s textbook.

Screenshot collage: Rumor Scanner
Later, she shared the CBSE’s statement on February 2, acknowledging that it was not a CBSE-endorsed book. Schools were adopting it on their initiative.

Screenshot: X
Therefore, Tency Mangal and an individual named Khushi confirmed that, although CBSE did not publish this book, various schools in India are teaching it.
Moreover, the latest 2023-24 syllabus published by CBSE does not mention this book.
Bottom Line
The book titled ‘A Guide to Self-Awareness and Empowerment,’ published by G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd., contains a chapter on ‘Dating and Relationships.’ However, there have been inaccurate media reports suggesting that this chapter is part of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)’s ninth-grade curriculum in India. Investigations by the Rumor Scanner team have verified that this book is not included in CBSE’s ninth-grade textbooks, nor has the CBSE published or officially recommended it for the school curriculum. The chapter has been included in the publication post-COVID-19 and has been adopted by various schools on their initiative, according to the publishing company’s communication with the Rumor Scanner team.
So, a book titled ‘A Guide to Self-Awareness and Empowerment’ published by G. Ram Books Pvt. Ltd. contains a chapter on ‘Dating and Relationships.’ However, media reports claim this chapter is part of the CBSE’s ninth-grade textbook, which is misleading.