Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday said that concrete steps are being taken to provide corrected versions of the newly introduced textbooks for Class I to the students soon.
At the same time, School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond denied reports that the books contained the kind of errors being highlighted in the media.
The Minister was speaking after a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to review the controversy surrounding alleged errors in newly introduced school textbooks.
The claims regarding mistakes in the Class I textbooks were being misrepresented by sections of the media, Gond said.
“The kind of errors being reported since yesterday do not exist in the manner they are being projected. Corrected textbooks will soon be provided to students,” he said.
Regarding the inclusion and presentation of certain songs in the textbooks, Gond said several media outlets, including national media, had incorrectly portrayed the issue.
On the inclusion of popular Bollywood song ‘Nimbua Nimbuda’ in Odisha school textbooks, the Minister maintained that the National Education Policy (NEP) encourages exposure to songs and cultural content from different states, and alleged that this aspect was being wrongly projected as an error.
The minister also accused sections of the media of spreading misinformation without properly examining the facts. “What is being shown in the media is not positive. Instead of analysing the issue objectively, misinformation is being spread,” he said.
According to reports, fresh mistakes were noticed in ‘Jhulana-1’, a Class I textbook prescribed for English-medium private schools in the state.
The book reportedly introduced the Odia alphabet in an unusual sequence, beginning with the consonant ‘ଚ’ instead of the vowel ‘ଅ’. The subsequent order includes ‘ଟ’, ‘ମ’, ‘ଗ’, and ‘ର’ while ‘ଅ’ and ‘ଆ’ appear later, raising concerns among teachers and parents about its impact on foundational language learning.
The textbook has also come under scrutiny for alleged errors in the state anthem “Bande Utkala Janani”, where the phrase “Ghana Ghana Banabhumi” was reportedly printed as “Ghana Banabhumi”. Another reported mistake involved the spelling of “Utkala” in the national anthem.
Earlier, more than 1,600 errors were detected in newly published textbooks for Classes I to VIII, prompting criticism from opposition parties, educationists and parents. The Crime Branch of the state police is investigating the textbook error case.
The School and Mass Education Department has maintained that corrections are being carried out based on suggestions from educationists and subject experts, and assured that revised, error-free textbooks will be distributed to students soon.