Odisha govt to withdraw school textbooks after errors like Hampi-Konark mix-up

Teachers also pointed out instances of incorrect names of personalities and swapped images in several textbooks

The Mohan Majhi government on Wednesday announced that it will withdraw the flawed editions, publish corrected versions and distribute fresh copies of Odisha school textbooks to students following the backlash over factual and printing errors.

The decision comes after a series of errors in textbooks for Classes I to VIII triggered a controversy. (Representative Photo/iStock)

“Corrected and revised textbooks will be available to students shortly. Experts and educationists are reviewing all the errors. Once corrections are complete, the revised textbooks will also be uploaded on the department’s [School and Mass Education Department] official website so that students and teachers can easily access them,” said school and mass education secretary N Thirumala Naik.

The decision comes after a series of errors in textbooks for Classes I to VIII triggered a controversy, prompting criticism from the opposition, educationists and parents over the quality of educational material supplied to government schools.

Naik said the government took the issue “very seriously” and was committed to ensuring that students receive error-free textbooks at the earliest.

The department will seek feedback from teachers, parents, researchers, subject experts and members of the public, and suggestions will be scrutinised before books are sent for final printing.

The government also expanded the committee constituted to review the books, including subject experts, educationists and senior officials of the School and Mass Education Department.

Officials said the move aims to make the textbook review process more transparent. Naik said chief minister Majhi directed officials to strengthen the scrutiny mechanism for textbook preparation in the future.

Naik did not specify by when the new books will be supplied. The academic session has already begun with unit tests around a month away.

The controversy erupted after multiple errors were detected in newly introduced textbooks prepared under the revised curriculum for the 2026-27 academic session. The mistakes ranged from spelling errors and factual inaccuracies to incorrect maps, names and photographs.

Among the errors are the placement of Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills in Jharkhand, the use of the Karnataka legislative assembly building in place of the Odisha assembly, and a photograph of Hampi being identified as the Konark Sun Temple.

A Class V textbook carried lyrics of the song Nimbooda Nimbooda from the 1999 Hindi film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam verbatim in one of its chapters.

Teachers also pointed out instances of incorrect names of personalities and swapped images in several textbooks.

Majhi last month constituted a three-member high-level committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh to investigate the lapses. Based on the committee’s findings, the government last week suspended four senior officials of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and initiated disciplinary proceedings against six other employees.

According to the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA), nearly 2.98 crore (29.8 million) textbooks were printed for the 2026-27 academic session, compared with around 2.70 crore (27 million) last year.

The Directorate of Textbook Production and Marketing (TBP&M) said around ₹21 crore was spent on outsourcing the printing work to private presses. The revised curriculum this year included 55 SCERT textbooks, up from 46 in the previous academic session.

On Tuesday, former CM Naveen Patnaik criticised the current Bharatiya Janata Party government on a social media post and demanded accountability alleging that the large-scale errors had “shaken the foundation” of children’s education.