In the wake of intense political backlash over a series of errors inside newly distributed school textbooks, Odisha School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond on Monday said that revised versions would be dispatched to all government-run schools so that pupils receive error-free lessons.
Speaking to mediapersons, Gond emphasised that the government is treating the issue with the utmost gravity, pointing out that Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had formed an investigative panel to probe the operational failures.
“Every discrepancy found in the school textbooks is being scrutinised seriously. The Chief Minister ordered an immediate inquiry committee, which have concluded their initial probe, and action has been already taken against those found responsible for the negligence,” the minister stated.
He further clarified that the Chief Minister had also directed to supply modified copies of the curriculum to every government school, so that teachers could use the revised versions while teaching.
“These corrected books will be used in classrooms to ensure that teaching is carried out properly without affecting students’ learning,” Gond said.
Simultaneously, executing the state government’s urgent mandates, local education boards across several districts have already started distributing printed correction sheets to schools to temporarily fix the textbook blunders.
Detailing the local rollout, Bhadrak District Education Officer Chakradhar Mallik stated that the correction sheets identifying the errors and their rectifications had already been supplied to schools.
“The teachers will correct the errors and teach accordingly,” he informed.
Meanwhile, anger continued to brew as citizens took out a demonstration in Berhampur, handing over a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister through the Ganjam district education officer to demand a total recall of the flawed books and the immediate rollout of a completely reprinted curriculum.
