Bhubaneswar: Odisha government Wednesday said it would issue corrected textbooks to school children soon and rejected claims about the number of errors in those books.
The actual number of errors is much lower than the claimed figure, said N Thirumala Naik, School and Mass Education Department Secretary.
Claims of more than 1,600 errors in the new textbooks for Classes I to VIII, including spelling mistakes and incorrect names of eminent personalities, have put the BJP government under increasing criticism.
Opposition parties alleged the issue has exposed the dispensation’s “extremely careless and utterly callous attitude” and hurt Odia pride. They have demanded School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond’s resignation and a CBI probe into the matter.
Addressing the first press conference after the statewide hue and cry over the matter, Naik said, “The state government was serious about the errors and providing new textbooks to students as soon as possible. For now, children will continue their studies with the corrected sheets provided to teachers.”
Though Naik admitted errors were detected in the textbooks, he rejected the allegation that there were as many as 1678 mistakes.
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“The number of errors being highlighted in media and social media is not correct. The actual number is much lower than the claimed figure,” he said without revealing the quantum of errors detected by the state government.
He also evaded answering questions related to justification of placing a Rajasthani folk song in the textbooks for Odisha students.
Asserting the government has already initiated corrective measures to address mistakes reported in schoolbooks, the secretary said the department will fix major errors and provide new textbooks until new editions are printed and distributed.
“Experts and senior officials are reviewing the errors and public feedback has been sought. The Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) has released a correction list on its website,” he said.
Naik said the government was making every effort to provide new textbooks quickly and the department has directed officials to complete the process of finalising the corrections transparently and at speed.
He said action was taken against some officers based on the report of the high-level committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh. “More people may face action,” he said.
In Nabarangpur, the Congress gave a call for a 12-hour shutdown against the errors in textbooks and demanded the resignation of Gond, who hails from the district.
