Bhubaneswar: The state government Thursday constituted a three-member high-level committee, headed by Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary Deoranjan Kumar Singh, to probe the publication of error-ridden school textbooks for Classes I to VIII and submit its report within seven days.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the committee comprises Odia Language, Literature and Culture department Secretary Bijay Ketan Upadhyaya and General Administration and Public Grievance department Deputy Secretary Smita Pani as members.
The committee will probe the printing-related errors, ascertain where the lapses occurred and fix responsibility on the officials or institutions concerned. It has been asked to submit its report within seven days. Errors in textbooks for Classes I to VIII have reportedly caused difficulties for students.
Taking serious note of the issue, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi reviewed the matter Wednesday, stressed the need to maintain the highest standards of accuracy in educational materials and instructed officials to ensure that all identified errors are corrected without delay. According to reports, the new textbooks prepared by State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), under the Odisha Curriculum 2025 for Classes I to VIII contain nearly 1,678 identified errors.
The highest number of mistakes — 705 — has been found in the Class VIII textbooks alone, including 294 errors in Jijnasa, 114 in Sanskrit, 25 in Social Science, and 31 in Literature, along with several significant errors in English and Mathematics. Among the most widely discussed mistakes are the description of Sir Isaac Newton as a ‘great pilot’ instead of a scientist, the use of an image of Karnataka’s Vidhan Soudha in place of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, and the identification of Hampi’s famous stone chariot as the Konark Sun Temple.
Other inaccuracies reportedly involve Odisha’s geography, history and cultural heritage. Odisha Parents’ Federation described the publication of the error-ridden textbooks as a serious failure of the education system. Teachers’ groups have also questioned the hurried manner in which the books were prepared, noting that work on all 55 textbooks was reportedly completed within a limited timeframe, leaving little scope for extensive academic review and proofreading.
However, members of the Congress-affiliated NSUI held a demonstration Thursday, demanding the resignation of School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over alleged “errors in newly introduced school textbooks”.
The issue has also triggered a political storm. Congress has sought an apology from the S&ME department and warned of statewide protests if corrective measures are not taken promptly, whereas Biju Janata Dal has termed the episode a ‘national embarrassment’ and called for a comprehensive investigation. Meanwhile, SCERT officials have attributed the mistakes to the compressed timeline involved in implementing NEP 2020. The textbooks were released as an “Experimental Edition” for the 2026-27 academic session and were prepared within a short period after the publication of the new NCERT syllabus.
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