Odisha Chief Minister Orders Inquiry into 1,678 Errors in School Textbooks
On June 17, 2026, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi convened a high-level meeting and ordered a thorough inquiry into errors found in school textbooks for Classes I to VIII. The state's School and Mass Education Minister Nityanand Gond and Chief Secretary Anu Garg were present. The textbooks, prepared by the Directorate of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework, were found to contain 1,678 mistakes, ranging from factual inaccuracies to grammatical slips.
The Chief Minister directed the formation of a three-member committee, led by the Development Commissioner, to investigate the lapses. The committee has been tasked with submitting its report within seven days, after which the government will initiate stringent action against officials or institutions held responsible. Emphasizing the importance of quality education, the Chief Minister stated that such negligence in textbook preparation would not be tolerated.
The errors were detected soon after the textbooks were distributed to schools, which reopened on June 18. Teachers reviewing the new books identified several significant mistakes. For instance, Isaac Newton was incorrectly described as the "greatest pilot," while a photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly was mislabeled as the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The Niyamgiri Hill range in Odisha was shown as being in Jharkhand, and an image of the Hampi complex was mistakenly identified as the Konark temple. Numerous grammatical and spelling errors were also found, some easily noticeable even by students.
Basudev Bhat, president of the Odisha Abhibhabak Sangh (Odisha Parents' Federation), expressed serious concern about the impact on pupils. He noted that correcting the textbooks involves revision, reprinting, and redistribution, which could take many months. "Students from Classes I to VIII are likely to suffer for a significant part of the academic year, as they may not receive error-free books for the next six to seven months," he said.
The introduction of these textbooks was part of the phased rollout of the National Education Policy 2020, which envisions a transformative approach to learning. The policy emphasizes critical thinking and conceptual clarity, but the errors have raised questions about the rigor of the content development process. Education experts point out that inaccuracies in textbooks can confuse young minds and erode trust in educational materials.
Teachers and parents have raised concerns that the textbooks may have been prepared without adequate quality checks, possibly due to time constraints. The government has assured that corrective steps are being taken, including the possibility of issuing digital errata as a stopgap arrangement until revised printed versions are available. A helpline for reporting errors may also be set up to expedite the review process.
The incident underscores the challenges of implementing large-scale educational reforms without robust quality assurance mechanisms. The Chief Minister's prompt response has been noted, but the long-term lesson is the need for institutionalized scrutiny in creating learning resources. As the state prepares to rectify the mistakes, attention turns to ensuring that such lapses do not recur in future textbooks.
