Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Parents’ Federation (OPF) Sunday constituted a high-level committee to examine alleged errors and irregularities in the newly published SCERT textbooks for the 2026 27 academic session and recommend corrective measures.
The decision was taken at a consultation meeting held at Gita Govinda Sadan, attended by educationists, teachers, students, intellectuals, social activists, journalists, publishers, printing experts and political leaders.
Participants raised concerns over factual inaccuracies, grammatical mistakes, conceptual distortions, printing errors and content they described as unsuitable for schoolchildren.
The committee will be chaired by Padma Shri awardee Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, with senior journalist Rabi Das as Working Chairman and OPF president Basudev Bhatta as convener.
It also includes academicians, professors, social activists, publishers and civil society representatives. The panel has been tasked with identifying factual, grammatical, conceptual and printing errors in the textbooks and recommending action against those responsible.
Some teachers and subject experts involved in preparing the textbooks claimed they had submitted accurate manuscripts but alleged that the final printed versions contained several alterations and printing mistakes that were not part of their original work.
Several participants also suspected that Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, including ChatGPT, may have been used for English-to-Odia translation, resulting in distorted translations and inaccuracies. However, no evidence was presented at the meeting to support the claim.
Former Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra demanded the immediate withdrawal of the error-ridden textbooks.
The OPF urged the state government to withdraw the defective books, distribute last year’s textbooks until revised editions are ready, order an impartial judicial inquiry into the alleged irregularities, fi x accountabili ty, publish corrected textbooks within a stipulated time and ensure greater transparency and caution in the use of AI tools during textbook preparation.
The committee is expected to submit its report and recommendations to the state government shortly.