Odisha’s education system is once again at the center of controversy, with new problems in textbooks. Following on from previous government-based problems, the Odia language textbook is a new source of concern to students in English-medium private schools in the state. While each of these schools is under private management, the textbooks for Odia language taught to their children are supplied to them by the state government.
The new wave of concerns came as the Crime Branch of Odisha Police is already actively investigating widespread and large-scale mistakes reported in textbooks covering Classes 1 to 8 across Odia-medium government schools. In those cases, they said over 1,600 errors—from spelling mistakes to incorrect historical and cultural references about prominent personalities—were found in 55 different textbooks distributed by the department.
But teachers have noticed major discrepancies in the Class 1 textbook ‘Jhulana-1’. Teachers shared with news agencies that they found a spelling error in the word ‘Utkala’ in the national anthem. Teachers also pointed out important mistakes in Odisha’s well-known state song “Bande Utkala Janani.” A Jagatsinghpur teacher said, ‘Ghana Ghana Banabhumi’, which describes a vast forest, is missing in the text because the word ‘Ghana’ is not used. Besides a lack of lyrical and national anthemic errors, teachers also expressed their frustration about the Odia alphabet layout in the text which begins with the consonant “Cha” instead of the traditional vowel “Aa” and is confusing for young learners and teachers.
The problem for families has only worsened with logistics. Teachers reported that instead of having physical printed copies of the material in print form, the department issued a 168-page PDF version online to various institutions. So parents were left to print the massive document themselves and pay for it themselves to keep their kids up to date with their basic studies. Parents and guardians have sent urgent requests to state authorities to correct all text errors now to ensure that good printed textbooks are sent to students in a timely manner.
Meanwhile, the School and Mass Education Department has rejected media reports and accusations of new textbook errors and said the claims are “unjustified.” The department said in a post on X that a review is in progress and corrective action is being made in line with feedback from school and subject experts and educationists. The school administration said new textbooks would be released to students soon. The CID has also been instructed to investigate the reasons behind the mistakes and it is worrying that there is a conspiracy behind the publication and distribution of textbooks with such errors.
