Odisha reports 1,741 errors in Classes 1 to 8 textbooks; orders revisions, stricter checks

The Odisha government has reported 1,741 errors in school textbooks for Classes 1 to 8 after their printing and distribution were ongoing. These reported errors have led the state government to revise the books and boost the quality checks. 

According to School and Mass Education Minister Nityanand Gond, the government of Odisha had spent Rs 175 crore on the printing and publication of the textbooks. Some of the errors included grammatical, typographical and spelling mistakes. The errors also included a smaller number of factual and conceptual ones.

In a written reply to the question raised by Congress MLA Sofia Firdous in the Odisha Assembly, Gond has shared the details. According to the minister, 1,075 grammatical, typographical, and spelling errors and 5 factual and conceptual errors were found in the textbooks. In addition, the government has also received 661 suggestions to improve the content of the books.

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Odisha revises Classes 1 to 8 textbooks

The highest number of reported errors, which is 294, was reported in the Class 8 Science textbook. The next in line was the Class 7 Urdu textbook with 121 errors, Class 8 Sanskrit with 114, Class 6 Social Science with 98 and Class 7 Sanskrit with 92 errors.

The government has also revised the textbooks so that the reported mistakes could be checked and corrected. It has also introduced additional checks while making the textbooks. This is expected to reduce the possibility of similar errors in the future.

The reports were disclosed after concerns were raised over the quality of textbooks supplied to students in government schools. The corrective measures used by the Odisha government will improve the accuracy of learning materials provided by the school and also improve the review process before textbooks are printed and distributed among students.

The Directorate of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) have published the textbooks. These textbooks were printed based on drafts that had been prepared by the council. 

After the books were printed and distributed, the government found many errors and issued suspension orders to remove the director and three assistant directors. Disciplinary action was also ordered against six other assistant directors.