CBSE to Update Legal Studies Syllabus for Classes 11 & 12 with Recent Reforms

New Delhi — The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is set to overhaul the Legal Studies syllabus for Classes 11 and 12, incorporating major recent legal reforms such as the repeal of triple talaq, abolition of sedition, enactment of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and annulment of Section 377, which had criminalised homosexuality.

According to the report, the CBSE Curriculum Committee approved the changes earlier this year, and the Governing Body ratified them in June. The revised syllabus will allow senior secondary students to study laws replacing colonial-era statutes, along with landmark judgments and evolving legal doctrines shaping India’s justice system.

Official records cited that the revised textbooks will feature key provisions of the BNS, Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA); notable legal judgments; repealed or outdated laws; and a modern, NEP 2020-aligned pedagogy.

The changes come in the wake of sweeping legal reforms introduced in 2023–24, when the BNS, BNSS, and BSA replaced the Indian Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Indian Evidence Act. These reforms also removed provisions on sedition, criminalised triple talaq, and struck down Section 377 of the IPC — a colonial-era law introduced in 1861.

CBSE officials told that the Legal Studies textbooks, first introduced over five years ago, have not kept pace with these developments. An expert committee is likely to be formed, and a content development agency may be hired to prepare the updated textbooks for the 2026–27 academic year.

Launched in Class 11 in 2013 and expanded to Class 12 in 2014, Legal Studies has grown in popularity among students interested in law, governance, and public policy. The last major update in 2022–23 added topics such as the POSH Act (2013), the Right to Information Act, the Consumer Protection Act, Intellectual Property Rights, and legal entities.