Bhubaneswar: The Union Ministry of Education has forwarded to the state government a complaint alleging financial irregularities, conflict of interest and an alleged cover-up in the printing of school textbooks, adding another dimension to the ongoing controversy over errors in textbooks for Classes I to VIII. The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, in a communication issued in September, forwarded a PMO reference dated September 18 along with a complaint dated August 13 submitted by RTI activist Pradip Pradhan of Bhubaneswar.
The communication, addressed to the Com missioner-cum-Secretary of the S&ME Department, Odisha, asked the state government to take necessary action in accordance with the applicable rules and provisions and send a reply directly to the complainant. The complaint alleged “massive financial irregularities” and conflict of interest in the printing of school textbooks involving a Commerce department official on deputation. It also alleged an attempt to cover up the irregularities.
Significantly, the state government had informed the Assembly September 25 that 1,741 errors had been detected in textbooks for Classes I to VIII for the 2026-27 academic session. Of these, 1,075 were grammatical, typographical or spelling errors, five were classified as factual or conceptual errors, while 661 were suggestions for improvement. Around Rs 175 crore was spent on printing and publication of the books.
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