Nimbuda-Nimbuda to Newton and 1600+ mistakes in Odisha school textbooks: Read what the fiasco is and what action the Mohan Majhi government is taking

· OpIndia

The Odisha government led by CM Mohan Majhi is facing a major embarrassment after it was reported that the newly released government school textbooks by the SCERT, adapting the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the Odisha Curriculum Framework, are full of mistakes and misinformation.

The school textbooks from class 1 to class 8 contain as many as 1678 errors of different magnitude, as per reports. 

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The mistakes range from spelling and grammatical errors to serious factual, scientific, and contextual inaccuracies. Class 8 textbooks reportedly contain the highest number of errors, around 705. Among the most glaring blunders are descriptions of Sir Isaac Newton as a “great pilot” instead of a scientist, and an anecdote claiming he boiled “water.”

In another textbook, a photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been wrongly captioned as the Odisha Assembly, while the Hampi temple complex in Karnataka is mislabelled as Odisha’s iconic Konark Sun Temple.

There are instances like placing Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills in Jharkhand, labelling temperature as pressure, mixing up “food web” with “food cycle,” and even printing an Odia festival song in the English textbook.

A rather ‘viral’ mistake is seen in a Class 8 textbook for Art Education, named ‘Kruti’, where the Bollywood song Nimbuda Nimbuda is printed in Odia script. This, however, can be a slightly misleading claim because Nimbuda Nimbuda is a Rajasthani folk song, and the book actually features folk songs from other states too.

Interestingly, the books were designed, approved, printed and distributed all over the state, among 40 lakh students, before students, parents and teachers started flagging the errors and started making videos and reels. At no point in the entire process of design, editing, approval, and printing were the mistakes identified by the concerned authorities or the state education department.

Government’s response

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has ordered a high-level inquiry. A three-member committee headed by the Development Commissioner was constituted to identify officials responsible for the lapses and submit its report within seven days. The government has issued correction slips (corrigenda) to schools, directing teachers to verbally correct the mistakes during classes. However, the textbooks have not been withdrawn, as they have already been distributed. Education Minister Nityanand Gond has acknowledged that the books cannot be ‘replaced’ at this time because lakhs of books are already printed and distributed in schools.

On June 26, CM Mohan Majhi suspended 4 high-level officials, former SCERT director Manoj Padhi, and other senior officials Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu and Bharati Tudu, for negligence. 6 more assistant directors in various departments under the Education Ministry are also facing disciplinary action. It is now being reported in Odia media that SCERT’s former director Manoj Padhi was already facing serious allegations of misconduct and corruption.

The government has promised action against those responsible, but that statement itself is raising further controversy in the state, as people are sharing videos to ask who all the government is going to hold responsible, as it is obvious that a fiasco at this scale must involve mistakes by dozens of people at all levels, displaying gross negligence and lack of responsibility.

Additionally, the government has tried to claim that the entire textbook fiasco is a ‘conspiracy’ against the state government, triggering further condemnation and criticism. 

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