Bhubaneswar: Senior Lawmaker, Shri Kalikesh Narayan Singh Deo raised serious concerns regarding widespread errors identified in state textbooks for Classes I to VIII.
The issue came to light during the State Legislative Assembly session on September 25, 2026, when Shri Singh Deo raised a question and where the School and Mass Education Minister, Shri Nityanand Gond, revealed details about the discrepancies.
A total of 1,741 errors and suggestions were documented across various primary and upper primary textbooks published by the State Council of Educational Research and Training.
These included severe factual and conceptual mistakes, such as incorrect representations of the Odisha Legislative Assembly photograph, the location of Niyamgiri Hills, and the identification of the Konark Sun Temple.
Among the overall issues, five were critical factual errors, 1,075 were grammatical, spelling, or typographical mistakes, and 661 involved suggested improvements.
Students and educators have expressed concern over learning from inaccurate study material. In response to the discoveries, the State Government issued a official corrigendum to schools to provide correct information for teachers and students.
Furthermore, strict administrative actions have been taken: the former Director of DTE and SCERT along with three Assistant Directors have been suspended, while disciplinary proceedings are initiated against six Additional Assistant Directors.
The State Government assured that measures are in place to prevent such mistakes in future textbook editions to safeguard the representation of Odisha’s history, geography, language, and heritage.