NCERT Books for Class 5 — All Subjects, Free PDFs

At a glance

Quick answer. NCERT publishes 4 official textbooks for Class V (Class 5) in the 2025-26 academic year: Veena (Hindi), Santoor (English), Math Mela (Mathematics), and Our Wondrous World V (EVS). NCF-SE 2024-25 redesign reached Class 5 in the current academic year. Standard admission age is 10 years. Class 5 is the last year of the primary stage — Class 6 is the next major curricular jump (six subjects, Science and Social Science split out).

Class 5 NCERT consolidates primary-stage learning before the major Class 6 transition. Four textbooks form the syllabus — Rimjhim V (Hindi), Marigold V (English), Math Magic V (Mathematics), and Looking Around V (EVS). These are the rationalised 2022 editions; NCF-SE 2023 textbook rollout reaches Class 5 in subsequent years.

Mathematics at Class 5 introduces fractions and decimals systematically, basic algebra (numerical equations), area and volume, simple data handling, and large-number arithmetic up to lakhs. EVS at Class 5 covers more abstract topics — agriculture, water resources, government, social institutions, and community problem-solving. Language books move into structured grammar (tenses, voice, articles) alongside literary passages.

Class 5 is the final year of primary-stage NCERT before the Class 6 jump (where Social Science splits into History/Geography/Civics, Maths separates from EVS, and the workload grows substantially). Class 5 NCERT remains widely used as the canonical syllabus for state-level scholarship exams, NTSE preparation by some schools, and Olympiad foundations. All four books are free on ncert.nic.in and linked below.

Class 5 — last year of primary, NCF-SE transitional

Class 5 is the last year of the primary stage (Class 1-5) in Indian schooling. NCERT publishes four core textbooks at Class 5: Hindi (Veena under NCF-SE 2024-25), English (Santoor), Mathematics (Math Mela — replacing legacy Math Magic V), and EVS / The World Around Us (Our Wondrous World V). This is the same four-subject structure as Class 3-4, but with more substantive content depth in each subject.

The NCF-SE 2024-25 redesign has reached Class 5 in the 2025-26 academic year for most subjects. The new books — Veena, Santoor, Math Mela, Our Wondrous World — replaced the older Marigold V / Rimjhim V / Math Magic V / Looking Around V editions. If your child's school has adopted the new books, the structure and pedagogical style differs noticeably (illustration-heavy, activity-led).

Class 5 has no formal external examination. Most CBSE schools run formative assessments and a year-end summative test for parental reporting, but there is no CBSE-mandated board exam. Class 5 marks do not appear on the Class 10 board marksheet — they are internal school records only.

Class 5 — preparation for the Class 6 jump

Class 5 to Class 6 is one of the two biggest curricular jumps in Indian schooling (the other being Class 8 to Class 9). The four-subject structure expands to six subjects; Science and Social Science become standalone substantive subjects (not the integrated EVS); reading load roughly doubles. Most parents underestimate this transition because Class 5 is positioned as 'just another primary year'.

What parents can do during Class 5 to ease the Class 6 transition:

1. Build reading stamina now — by end of Class 5, your child should comfortably read a 1,500-word story silently and answer comprehension questions. If they tire after 500 words, that's a Class 6 readiness signal to address now.
2. Multiplication-table fluency — Class 5 Math Mela assumes tables 2-12 fluency. Class 6 Ganita Prakash extends this to mental arithmetic with two-digit multipliers. Daily 5-minute mental-math practice in Class 5 = effortless Class 6 arithmetic.
3. Curiosity about the natural world — Class 6 Science (Curiosity) is built on observation and questioning. Children whose Class 5 EVS has been hands-on (gardening, cooking, simple experiments) adapt to Class 6 Science immediately.
4. Map reading and current affairs — Class 6 Social Science introduces ancient India and geographic features. Class 5 EVS chapters on transport, communication, and India already cover the foundation. Reinforce with newspaper-reading habit (15 min daily of headlines).
5. Hindi-medium fluency — many parents focus on English at Class 5 and let Hindi slide. CBSE Class 6 Hindi is rigorous (longer paragraphs, structured grammar, essay-style writing). Don't let it slip in Class 5.

What does NOT need to happen in Class 5:

• Olympiad enrolment (skip; reactive distraction)
• Coaching tuition (Class 5 NCERT is fully accessible without coaching for any standard child)
• Marks competition or rank-tracking (Class 5 marks don't appear anywhere outside the school transcript)

Find a Class 5 school near you

GetSchoolsInfo's primary database covers 64,000+ Indian K-12 schools sourced from UDISE+ 2024-25. The cards below jump to city / metro search results filtered for CBSE-board schools (most of which follow NCERT for Class 5).

Three ways students and parents use this page

As a study reference. Bookmark it on your phone, share the URL with your child or study group, and refer back during the academic year. The page structure is intentionally stable — same hierarchy, same sources, same labels — so revisiting it weeks later doesn't require re-orienting yourself.

As a verification anchor. When a coaching brochure or third-party education site claims something about NCERT — what's in / what's out / what's coming — cross-check it here. Every claim on this page links back to the official NCERT, CBSE, or NTA source. If a third-party claim contradicts what's here, follow our source link first; we cite the canonical document.

As a navigation hub. Each page links up (to the parent class hub or NCERT root) and across (to adjacent chapters, subjects, or related deletion pages). The hierarchy is designed to support depth-first browsing — start broad, drill down, and pop back up. Use the breadcrumbs at the top of every page to navigate the hierarchy without losing context.

If you're a teacher or counsellor, this page is also designed to print cleanly to a single PDF — no popups, no distracting ads, no required logins.

Beyond NCERT — other free Government of India learning resources

NCERT is the canonical syllabus, but it isn't the only free educational resource the Indian government publishes. Each of the platforms below complements NCERT for a specific use case.

ePathshala (epathshala.nic.in) is the Ministry of Education's digital reader for NCERT books. It hosts the same PDFs as ncert.nic.in but with an enhanced flipbook interface that's easier to read on phones. Use it when you want a screen-friendly reading experience rather than a download. Note: ePathshala does not host any content not also available on ncert.nic.in — both are sourced from the same NCERT-published files.

DIKSHA (diksha.gov.in) is the Ministry of Education's video-and-interactive content platform. It curates chapter-aligned videos (some from NCERT's own YouTube channel, some third-party), interactive quizzes, and 'energised textbook' augmentations — QR codes inside printed NCERT books that link to DIKSHA media. Use DIKSHA when you want video reinforcement of a chapter you've already read; it's not a substitute for the textbook.

Swayam (swayam.gov.in) hosts MOOCs (massive open online courses) from IITs, IIMs, IISc, and other Indian institutions of national importance. Most courses target undergraduates, but some target Class 11-12 with dedicated CBSE-aligned content. Genuinely useful for self-driven Class 11-12 students; the certificates are NPTEL/UGC-recognised.

Swayam Prabha (swayamprabha.gov.in) is a 32-channel DTH education broadcast that runs 24×7. Schedules align with the academic year. Useful for students in low-connectivity areas where streaming video is unreliable.

NCERT Official YouTube (youtube.com/@NCERTOFFICIAL) hosts chapter-aligned video lessons authored by NCERT-empanelled teachers. Free, embeddable, and authoritative — these are the videos we curate on our chapter pages where available.

Editorial policy and how this page is maintained

Every NCERT-related page on GetSchoolsInfo is built from the same editorial policy, summarised here for transparency:

Source-of-truth. All chapter PDFs and rationalisation booklets are hot-linked directly to ncert.nic.in — the official Government of India publisher of NCERT content. We do not host PDFs on our own CDN, we do not redirect through ads, and we do not wrap NCERT links behind a registration wall. If NCERT issues a corrected or updated PDF, the link auto-refreshes from NCERT's CDN — you always get the latest version.

No commercial upsell. We do not sell or promote commercial guidebooks (RD Sharma, Lakhmir Singh, Together with..., Educart, Oswaal, Arihant). For CBSE board preparation, NCERT textbooks plus NCERT Exemplar Problems are sufficient; commercial books are supplementary at best. For JEE / NEET / CUET preparation, coaching modules add problem volume but are not a replacement for NCERT mastery.

Update cadence. Class-level and subject-level pages are reviewed annually before the academic year start (March-April). Chapter-level PDF link health is checked monthly via automated cron. The dateModified field at the bottom of every page reflects the most recent content edit; the inside cover of each NCERT PDF carries the print-edition year.

Verification. Every factual claim on this page can be cross-checked against the official NCERT rationalisation booklet (BookletClass{N}.pdf on ncert.nic.in), the latest CBSE Sample Paper PDF (cbseacademic.nic.in), or the relevant NTA bulletin (NEET/JEE/CUET 2026 syllabus documents). Disagreements between NCERT and NTA are explicitly flagged via our deleted-syllabus reconciliation pages — we do not paper over the gap.

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