CTET Syllabus 2026: Check Paper 1 and Paper 2 Section-wise Topics PDF

CTET Syllabus 2026: The CTET Syllabus 2026 for the Central Teacher Eligibility Test is crucial for candidates aspiring to teach Classes I-V or VI-VIII in government or private schools. The CTET exam includes Paper I (for primary teachers) and Paper II (for upper primary teachers). The syllabus is a very important resource for starting the preparation. The syllabus provides a holistic perspective of the topics that are being covered in the exam. Candidates should prepare a study plan by targeting the CTET syllabus in a structured manner. This article provides the detailed syllabus for both papers and the exam pattern to help aspirants plan their preparation effectively.

Apply Here for CTET 2026 February Session

CTET 2026 Syllabus

The CTET exam is conducted in two papers:

• Paper 1: for candidates who wish to teach Classes I to V (Primary Stage).

• Paper 2: for candidates who wish to teach Classes VI to VIII (Elementary Stage). 

Both papers have 150 multiple-choice questions (MCQs), each question carrying 1 mark, hence the total marks are 150. There is no provision for negative marking.

CTET Exam Pattern 2026

The candidates must have the knowledge of the CTET Exam Pattern for Paper I and Paper II. The CTET consists of two papers- Paper I and Paper II. The question paper consists of multiple choice questions (MCQs) consisting of a total of 150 questions.

CTET Syllabus 2026 Download PDF

Candidates can download the CTET 2026 syllabus for Paper I and Paper II from the official website- www.ctet.nic.in or from the link provided here.

CTET Syllabus 2026 for Paper I

CTET syllabus for Paper I includes five sections such as Child Development & Pedagogy, Language I (Compulsory), Language II (Compulsory), Mathematics, and Environmental Studies (EVS). The Test items in Language I will focus on the proficiencies related to the medium of instruction. The Test items in Language II will focus on the elements of language, communication and comprehension abilities.

1. Child Development & Pedagogy

Child Development (Primary School Child)

• Concept of development and its relationship with learning

• Principles of the development of children

• Influence of Heredity& Environment

• Socialization processes: Social world & children (Teacher, Parents, Peers)

• Piaget, Kohlberg and Vygotsky: constructs and critical perspectives

• Concepts of child-centered and progressive education

• Critical perspective of the construct of Intelligence

• Multi-Dimensional Intelligence

• Language & Thought

• Gender as a social construct; gender roles,gender -bias and educational practice.

• Individual differences among learners, understanding differences based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion etc.

• Distinction between Assessment for learning and assessment of learning; School-Based Assessment, Continuous & Comprehensive Evaluation: perspective and practice

• Formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness levels of learners; for enhancing learning and critical thinking in the classroom and for assessing learner achievement.

Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs

• Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including disadvantaged and deprived

• Addressing the needs of children with learning difficulties, “impairment” etc.

• Addressing the Talented, Creative, Specially baled Learners

Learning and Pedagogy

• How children think and learn; how and why children “fail” to achieve success in school performance.

• Basic processes of teaching and learning; children’s strategies of learning; learning as a social activity; social context of learning.

• Child as a problem solver and a“ scientific investigator

• Alternative conceptions of learning in children, understanding children’s “errors” as significant steps in the learning process.

• Cognition & Emotions

• Motivation and learning

• Factors contributing to learning-personal& environmental

2. Language I (Compulsory)

Language Comprehension

• Reading unseen passages - two passages one prose or drama and one poem with questions on comprehension, inference, grammar and verbal ability (Prose passage may be literary, scientific, narrative or discursive).

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition

• Principles of language Teaching

• Role of listening and speaking; function of language and how children use it as a tool

• Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form

• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders

• Language Skills

• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing

• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, multi lingual resource of the classroom

• Remedial Teaching

3. Language II (Compulsory)

Comprehension

• Two unseen prose passages (discursive or literary or narrative or scientific) with question on comprehension, grammar and verbal ability

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition

• Principles of language Teaching

• Role of listening and speaking; function of language and how children use it as a tool

• Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form;

• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders

• Language Skills

• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing

• Teaching - learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, multilingual resource of the classroom

• Remedial Teaching

4. Mathematics

Content

• Geometry

• Shapes & Spatial Understanding

• Solids around Us

• Numbers

• Addition and Subtraction

• Multiplication

• Division

• Measurement

• Weight

• Time

• Volume

• Data Handling

• Patterns

• Money

Pedagogical issues

• Nature of Mathematics/ Logical thinking; understanding children’s thinking and reasoning patterns and strategies of making meaning and learning

• Place of Mathematics in Curriculum

• Language of Mathematics

• Community Mathematics

• Evaluation through formal and informal methods

• Problems of Teaching

• Error analysis and related aspects of learning and teaching

• Diagnostic and Remedial Teaching

5. Environmental Studies (EVS)

Content

• Family and Friends: Relationships Work and Play Animals Plants

• Food

• Shelter

• Water

• Travel

• Things We Make and Do

Pedagogical Issues

• Concept and scope of EVS

• Significance of EVS, integrated EVS

• Environmental Studies & Environmental Education

• Learning Principles

• Scope & relation to Science & Social Science

• Approaches of presenting concepts

• Activities

• Experimentation/Practical Work

• Discussion

• CCE

• Teaching material/Aids

• Problems

CTET Syllabus 2026 for Paper II

The CTET Paper II is conducted for teaching Classes 6 to 8. The Paper II consists of four sections: Child Development and Pedagogy, Language I, Language II, Mathematics and Science or Social Studies. The Test items in Mathematics and Science, and Social Studies/Social Science will focus on the concepts, problem solving abilities and pedagogical understanding and applications of the subjects. The test items of Mathematics and Science will be of 30 marks each. The test items will be evenly distributed over different divisions of the syllabus of that subject as prescribed for classes VI-Vlll by the NCERT. The questions in the test for Paper II will be based on the topics prescribed in syllabus of the NCERT for classes VI-VIII but their difficulty standard as well as linkages, could be up to the Senior Secondary stage. Check the detailed Paper II syllabus below:

1. Child Development and Pedagogy

Child Development(Elementary School Child)

• Concept of development and its relationship with learning

• Principles of the development of children

• Influence of Heredity & Environment

• Socialization processes: Social world &children(Teacher, Parents, Peers)

• Piaget, Kohlberg and Vygotsky: constructs and critical perspectives

• Concepts of child-centered and progressive education

• Critical perspective of the construct of Intelligence

• Multi-Dimensional Intelligence

• Language & Thought

• Gender as a social construct; gender roles, gender-bias and educational practice

• Individual differences among learners, understanding differences based on diversity of language, caste, gender, community, religion etc

• Distinction between Assessment for learning and assessment of learning; School-Based Assessment, Continuous & Comprehensive Evaluation: perspective and practice

• Formulating appropriate questions for assessing readiness levels of learners; for enhancing learning and critical thinking in the classroom and for assessing learner achievement.

Concept of Inclusive education and understanding children with special needs

• Addressing learners from diverse backgrounds including disadvantaged and deprived

• Addressing the needs of children with learning difficulties, “impairment‟ etc.

• Addressing the Talented, Creative, Specially abled Learners

Learning and Pedagogy

• How children think and learn; how and why children„ fail‟ to achieve success in school performance.

• Basic processes of teaching and learning; children’s strategies of learning; learning as a social activity; social context of learning.

• Child as a problem solver and a “scientific investigator‟

• Alternative conceptions of learning in children, understanding children's “errors‟ as significant steps in the learning process.

• Cognition & Emotions

• Motivation and learning

• Factors contributing to learning-personal & environmental

2. Language I

Language Comprehension

• Reading unseen passages-two passages one prose or drama and one poem with questions on comprehension, inference, grammar and verbal ability (Prose passage may be literary, scientific, narrative or discursive)

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition

• Principles of language Teaching

• Role of listening and speaking; function of language and how children use

• IT as a tool

• Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form;

• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom; language difficulties, errors and disorders

• Language Skills

• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing

• Teaching-learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, multi lingual resource of the classroom

• Remedial Teaching

3. Language-II

Comprehension

• Two unseen prose passages (discursive or literary or narrative or scientific) with question on comprehension, grammar and verbal ability

Pedagogy of Language Development

• Learning and acquisition

• Principles of language Teaching

• Role of listening and speaking; function of language and how children use it as a tool

• Critical perspective on the role of grammar in learning a language for communicating ideas verbally and in written form;

• Challenges of teaching language in a diverse classroom ; language difficulties, errors and disorders

• Language Skills

• Evaluating language comprehension and proficiency: speaking, listening, reading and writing

• Teaching- learning materials: Textbook, multi-media materials, multi lingual resource of the classroom

• Remedial Teaching

4. Mathematics and Science

Mathematics

Content

• Number System

• Knowing our Numbers

• Playing with Numbers

• Whole Numbers

• Negative Numbers and Integers

• Fractions

• Algebra

• Introduction to Algebra

• Ratio and Proportion

• Geometry

• Basic geometrical ideas (2-D)

• Understanding Elementary Shapes (2-Dand3-D)

• Symmetry: (reflection)

• Construction (using Straight edge Scale, protractor, compasses)

• Mensuration

• Data handling

Pedagogical issues

• Nature of Mathematics/Logical thinking

• Place of Mathematics in Curriculum

• Language of Mathematics

• Community Mathematics

• Evaluation

• Remedial Teaching

• Problem of Teaching

Science

Content

• Food

• Sources of food

• Components of food

• Cleaning food

• Materials

• Materials of daily use

• The World of the Living

• Moving Things People and Ideas

• How things work

• Electric current and circuits

• Magnets

• Natural Phenomena

• Natural Resources

Pedagogical issues

• Nature & Structure of Sciences

• Natural Science/Aims & objectives

• Understanding & Appreciating Science

• Approaches/Integrated Approach

• Observation/Experiment/Discovery(Method of Science)

• Innovation

• Text Material/Aids

• Evaluation-cognitive/psycho-motor/affective

• Problems

• Remedial Teaching

4. Social Studies/Social Sciences

Content

• History

• When, Where and How

• The Earliest Societies

• The First Farmers and Herders

• The First Cities

• Early States

• New Ideas

• the first Empire

• Contacts with Distant lands

• Political Developments

• Culture and Science

• New Kings and Kingdoms

• Sultans of Delhi

• Architecture

• Creation of an Empire

• Social Change

• Regional Cultures

• The Establishment of Company Power

• Rural Life and Society

• Colonialism and Tribal Societies

• The Revolt of 1857-58

• Women and reform

• Challenging the Caste System

• The Nationalist Movement

• India After Independence

• Geography

• Geography as a social study and as a science

• Planet: Earth in the solar system 

• Globe

• Environment in its totality: natural and human environment

• Air

• Water

• Human Environment: settlement, transport and communication

• Resources: Types-Natural and Human

• Agriculture

• Social and Political Life

• Diversity

• Government

• Local Government

• Making a Living

• Democracy

• State Government

• Understanding Media

• Unpacking Gender

• The Constitution

• Parliamentary Government

• The Judiciary

• Social Justice and the Marginalised

Pedagogical issues

• Concept & Nature of Social Science/Social Studies

• Class Room Processes, activities and discourse

• Developing Critical thinking

• Enquiry/Empirical Evidence

• Problems of teaching Social Science/Social Studies

• Sources- Primary & Secondary

• Projects Work

• Evaluation 

How to Download CTET Syllabus 2026 PDF

Candidates can download the CTET Syllabus 2026 PDF from the official website at ctet.nic.in. Just follow these steps to download the syllabus PDF.

STEP 1: Visit the official website- ctet.nic.in.

STEP 2: On the homepage, click on INFORMATION BULLETIN CTET Feb-2026.

STEP 3: A PDF will be opened containing the CTET 2026 Syllabus for Paper I and Paper II along with other exam related information.

STEP 4: Press Ctrl+F and search for Syllabus. You will be redirected to the page containing the syllabus in the PDF.

STEP 5: Download the syllabus PDF and use it for your preparation.