Bhubaneswar: Odisha government Friday suspended four officials over errors found in school textbooks and initiated disciplinary proceedings against six assistant directors, sources said.
According to the sources, Manoj Kumar Padhy, former Director of Teachers Training and SCERT, along with Assistant Directors Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu, and Bharati Tudu, were also placed under suspension for their alleged “involvement in the publication” of error-ridden textbooks.
The sources added that disciplinary action has been initiated against six assistant directors in connection with the alleged “lapses”, namely Bandita Pattnaik, Manas Ranjan Rout, Manoranjan Mahapatra, Dr Prashant Kumar Sahu, Manas Kumar Nayak, and Dr Sudarshan Santra.
Earlier in the day, the three-member committee probing errors in Odisha school textbooks submitted its report to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Headed by the Development Commissioner Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh, the panel submitted its findings within the seven-day deadline.
The committee was constituted after at least 1,678 errors surfaced in textbooks prescribed for the current academic session for students of Classes I to VIII. This drew criticism from teachers, parents and Opposition parties. CM Majhi later directed the panel to identify officials and agencies responsible for publishing inaccurate content and submit a report within a week.
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.
