Bhubaneswar: A section of teachers in government-run schools of Odisha have pointed out “several errors” in new textbooks for students of Classes I-VIII, including “spelling mistakes” and “incorrect names” of eminent personalities.
More than 1,600 “errors” have been detected in these school textbooks, said Bramhananda Maharana, president of the Primary Teachers Association.
The textbooks were prepared in adherence to the National Education Policy 2020, and prescribed from the 2026-27 academic session.
The “errors” range from “spelling mistakes, incorrect names of eminent personalities and factual inaccuracies to wrong photographs”.
“A total of 1,678 errors were detected in the textbooks for Classes I-VIII. A photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly was mistakenly used in place of the Odisha Assembly,” he said, citing an instance.
Similarly, Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills were incorrectly described as being located in Jharkhand, Maharana said.
Maharana demanded an inquiry and action against those responsible.
“The government should immediately correct the errors and distribute revised textbooks to the students,” he said.
School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond said “the department is concerned about the errors and taking necessary steps for rectification”.
“As the textbooks were newly prepared, there might have been some printing mistakes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Opposition BJD alleged that the BJP government is “destroying” the Odia education system.
Party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty asserted that these textbooks were a “national embarrassment”, and “such errors not only undermine the Odia language, literature and culture, but also jeopardise the future of students”.
The BJD leader demanded immediate withdrawal of all “defective textbooks”, and a high-level inquiry.
Among the other 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.
PTI
