Bhubaneswar: Odisha government started distributing corrected school textbooks across the state Monday after incorporating necessary changes, sources said.
Around 45,000 books were distributed today in Bhubaneswar, Kataka, Jatani, Salepur and Nischintakoili. The distribution includes Odia textbooks for classes II to VI and Urdu textbooks for classes VI to VIII, sources added.
The move comes amid growing student protests over errors in school textbooks, with the Navnirman Yuva Chhatra Sangathan (NYCS) planning to gherao the Assembly September 22, demanding reforms and greater transparency and accountability in the state’s education sector.
The Opposition BJD and Congress have also announced plans to raise the textbook errors issue during the Assembly session.
The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) Monday extended its support to the NYCS’ ongoing ‘satyagraha’, with party leaders joining the students’ agitation for the first time.
CJP co-convenor Saurav Das, who was in Bhubaneswar as part of the party’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign, said the party supported the demand for reforms in school education and accountability over the textbook errors.
“The CJP extends its support to the activists of NYCS who have been demanding reforms in school education and resignation of Nityananda Gond over the errors in the textbooks,” Das said.
Das claimed the government had spent Rs 380 crore on printing textbooks for schoolchildren but that the books contained multiple errors. He said accountability should be fixed for the mistakes and demanded the resignation of School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond.
Addressing the NYCS protest site, Das appealed to students and youths to join the peaceful Assembly gherao programme.
“There is huge frustration among youths and students over the prevailing education system. The government has failed to address the students’ issue and provide jobs to youths,” he added.
Das also questioned why Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Gond had not visited the protest site to speak with the agitators.
“Since the government is not listening to students and youths, we are forced to hit the streets and stage a peaceful agitation,” he said.
In a post on X, Das said he had visited Bhubaneswar to meet protesters and those on hunger strike under the banner of the Navnirman Yuva Chhatra Sangathan. He said Balkrishna Shukla, the party’s joint secretary-organisational, and other Odisha CJP members had accompanied him.
Das said he had come to Odisha at the invitation of Navnirman Krushak Sangathan (NKS) convenor Akshaya Kumar and NYCS leader Manwar Ali, who have been on hunger strike for more than two weeks over the textbook issue.
“Together, we will prepare a blueprint on education reforms and the issue relating to textbook errors,” Das said.
NYCS leader Kumar said the group had adopted Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent ‘satyagraha’ to seek reforms in the education sector. The group alleged that the state’s education system had become dysfunctional and that the government was not doing enough to improve it.