CBSE Class 9 Social Science 2026-27 Syllabus

The syllabus is divided into two parts: Part 1 consists of nine chapters and part 2 consists of seven chapters.

CBSE Class 9 Social Science 2026-27 Syllabus

Part 1

1. Understanding Social Science

  • Meaning, scope and relevance of Social Science
  • Understanding Social Science from an Indian perspective

2. Shaping of the Earth’s Surface

  • Theory of plate tectonics
  • Interior of the Earth
  • Role of weathering and erosion; agents of gradation - river, waves and currents, wind, glaciers, and underground water
  • Landforms and disasters: earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) and dust storms

3. Atmosphere and Climate

  • Structure and composition; elements of weather and climate
  • Seasons of India and monsoons
  • Climate change
  • Carbon footprint

4. Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation

  • Cultural development from 2 million years ago
  • Early human history, periodisation: Archaeological ages
  • Who are human ancestors?
  • Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and use of stone tools
  • Mesolithic transition to food production: Mesolithic sites and tools
  • Neolithic and the beginning of farming: Neolithic revolution domestication of plants and animals
  • Harappan and contemporary cultures
  • Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilisation

5. State and Society

  • Vedic Age - geography; texts; rituals; political institutions and social order
  • Administrative structure of early empires
  • Quest for knowledge - educational heritage, institutions, knowledge traditions, and cultural practices
  • Traders and trade routes, guilds and merchants, crafts and industries

6. Democracy

  • Meaning, features and types of democracy
  • Roots of democracy in India
  • Challenges to democracy in India
  • Democratic systems in the world

7. Elections

  • Factors of importance of elections
  • Electoral systems
  • Delimitation Commission
  • Election Commission of India and its role
  • Constituency, electoral rolls, enumerators
  • Party system in India

8. Building Blocks in Economics

  • Scarcity of resources, opportunity cost and the need for making choice. What do economists do?
  • What to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce?
  • Difference between market, centrally planned, and mixed economic systems
  • Welfare economy

9. The Price Puzzle: What Drives the Market

  • Laws of demand and supply
  • Real world deviations from textbook theory, such as in case of necessities, luxury goods, perishable items, and expectations
  • Some related concepts - price ceilings and market failures (externalities, information asymmetry, public goods)

Part 2

1. Oceans and Life

  • Introduction to ocean relief, movement of ocean water - waves, tides and currents
  • Marine resources and their significance; open seas, navigation fishing, and livelihood concerns and challenges
  • Cyclones and Tsunamis - early warning systems
  • International maritime rules and regulations

2. Life on Earth

  • Biomes: Distribution and characteristics; biosphere reserves in India
  • Forest and ecotourism; forest dwellers, their livelihoods, and challenges
  • Forest and wildlife conservation
  • Government efforts to support forest dwellers

3. Resistance and Resilience (1000 CE to 1700 CE)

  • Safeguarding sovereignty: resistance, alliances and confederacies
  • Development of art and architecture, languages and literature
  • The Bhakti tradition
  • Forts and fortifications
  • Expansion of Indian economy and state

4. India and the World - I (1900 BCE - 1200 CE)

  • Trade and commerce - trade with Mesopotamia, Greece, Roman Empire, China and Southeast Asia
  • Cultural Connections - Interactions with Greece and Rome, Central Asia, China, and Influence on South East Asia
  • Indian Knowledge Systems - Medicine, Mathematics and Astronomy, Medicine, Religion

5. Authority

  • The Roots of Authority: in Kautilya and shukraniti-danda and relationship with nyaya and bala
  • Constitutional status of justice and security since ancient times
  • Links the role of citizens with the elections and the democratic institutions
  • Types of authority - functional, sensitive, and welfare-oriented

6. From Ideas to Startups

  • What is entrepreneurship and explain the resources required to start a business
  • Case studies of successful entrepreneurs
  • Creative destruction with examples
  • Start-up ecosystem in India
  • Make in India initiative, role of MSMEs and the unorganised sector in India’s economic growth
  • Stages of starting and executing a business idea through a business plan
  • Some basic accounting concepts

7. Smart Ways to Manage Your Finances

  • Relevance of personal financial management in daily life
  • Inflation and its impact on purchasing power
  • Simple vs. compound interest rate
  • Budgeting
  • Various savings and investment options like fixed deposit, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.
  • Risk and insurance
  • Personal income tax