Isaac Newton Pilot Odisha Scert Textbook Errors Class 8 Probe Mohan Charan Majhi Government

The errors in textbooks prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Odisha, were blamed by officials who spoke to The Indian Express on a compressed publishing turnaround, copying content from NCERT textbooks, inadequate proofreading and negligence.

Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills are stated to be in Jharkhand, and the Karnataka Assembly building is identified as Odisha Vidhan Sabha in the Class 8 social science book.

Sir Isaac Newton is described as the “greatest pilot” in the Class 8 science book, and Hampi in Karnataka is identified as the Konark Sun Temple in another Class 8 book entitled Jasmine. As many as 1,678 errors were detected across 55 new SCERT textbooks for students in classes 1 to 8, including factual inaccuracies, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and wrong references. At 705, the Class 8 textbooks have the highest errors.

“It took at least three years for the NCERT to prepare textbooks, whereas the SCERT set a deadline of just six months. Concerns raised over inadequate timing to develop content before final publication were ignored,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

Speaking about Odisha Vidhan Sabha identified as the Karnataka Assembly, another official said that it probably happened due to over-reliance on the NCERT textbook — which carries a photo of the Karnataka Assembly — during desktop publishing.

The books have been distributed in many districts, and the SCERT clarified Thursday that students would continue with the same books throughout the academic year, with corrections to be made only in books published for the next academic year.

SCERT director Madhusmita Sahoo told reporters that books under the new curriculum had already been distributed among students for the current 2026-27 academic year. “We have detected the errors… instructions have been issued to the teachers to point out the errors in classrooms while teaching the subjects. The teachers will rectify the errors for the students in some cases, while for upper classes, the students will rectify the errors on the instructions of the teachers,” added Sahoo.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Odisha school and mass education secretary N Thirumala Naik said he would not comment on the matter, while adding that a committee headed by the development commissioner would find out what went wrong and where.

With the BJP government deciding to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in Odisha upon assuming power in the state, it had also decided to overhaul the school curriculum, aligning it with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) curriculum. Now, the errors in the new textbooks are drawing widespread criticism, including from parents and educationists.

Officials familiar with the matter said the textbooks were prepared in just six months — a timeframe considered grossly inadequate for developing, reviewing and finalising content before final publication.

SCERT sources said that multiple rounds of review were generally undertaken before publication of any textbook, but a thorough process that could have detected errors before publication wasn’t followed.

Under the SCERT procedure, once a textbook manuscript is prepared in line with prescribed guidelines, it’s submitted to a review committee for scrutiny and approval, following which it is sent for desktop publishing (DTP).

Once the DTP is completed, the manuscript undergoes at least two rounds of corrections and proofreading before being sent to the subject experts for further review.

The final publication of a textbook is approved only after the experts give a go-ahead upon completion of necessary revisions.

“Though the ongoing probe will find out if the detailed procedure was followed or not, a six-month timeframe is not at all adequate to complete the process following all the procedures,” said a teacher, part of a committee which was formed for the preparation of the new textbooks.

A day after Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed displeasure over the mistakes in the textbooks and ordered a probe, a three-member committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh was formed Thursday. The committee, with two other senior bureaucrats, is expected to question SCERT officials and members of the textbook preparation committees. It is tasked with submitting a report within seven days, with the CM warning of strict action against those responsible for the errors.

According to the Opposition, the errors expose the BJP government’s “extreme irresponsibility and utterly callous attitude”. “While this government fails to provide textbooks to children on time, the textbooks that have been provided are also riddled with numerous errors, shattering children’s hopes for education,” wrote ex-CM Naveen Patnaik on X, emphasising that the mistakes were not “trivial matters”.

Sujit Bisoyi is a Special Correspondent with the Indian Express and covers Odisha. His interests are in politics, policy and people’s stories. He tweets at @bisoyisujit87 ... Read More