Bhubaneswar: Activists of the opposition BJD and Navnirman Yuva Chhatra Sangathan (NYCS) demonstrated near the Odisha assembly Tuesday, demanding the resignation of Odisha School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over alleged large-scale errors in school textbooks.
Though both groups raised the same issue, they staged their demonstrations separately outside the assembly on the first day of the Monsoon Session.
BJD MLAs joined the agitation organised by the party’s youth and student wings, while a various number of organisations, including the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), extended support to the NYCS protest.
BJD MLA Goutam Buddha Das claimed that more than 1,600 errors, including spelling mistakes and incorrect names of eminent personalities, had been found in 55 textbooks supplied by the state government.
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“The government has spent Rs 380 crore on printing textbooks for schoolchildren, but they were found to have multiple mistakes. The government is playing with the future of school students,” he alleged.
He said the minister should take responsibility for the errors and resign.
Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD) president Chinmaya Sahu alleged that printing textbooks with “gross errors” in the name of implementing the National Education Policy amounted to a “national scam”.
Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) president Ipsita Sahu alleged that nearly six months had passed since the start of the academic year and students were set to appear for their half-yearly examinations, but the government had failed to ensure the distribution of error-free textbooks.
She also alleged that the minister was trying to “hoodwink” people by claiming that corrected textbooks had been printed and distributed.
NYCS members, who have been staging a “satyagraha” over the textbook issue for the past 34 days, clashed with police personnel while attempting to march towards the assembly.
When the protesters reached Lower PNG Road, police personnel deployed there stopped them, leading to a confrontation. Several NYCS leaders were detained, officials said.
Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) convenor Akshaya Kumar and Manwar Ali, who have been on a hunger strike for more than a fortnight over the textbook issue, were leading the protest.
“Our satyagraha entered its 34th day today. But the government did not invite us for a discussion over the textbook issue. So, we were moving towards the assembly to have a talk with the government,” Ali said.
The NKS and NYCS also demanded Gond’s resignation, alleging that he had failed to ensure the supply of error-free textbooks to school students.
Reacting to the protests, BJP MLA Irasish Acharya said the government had already taken action over the textbook errors and that corrected books were being distributed.
“They create noise without any justified reason,” he said.
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