BHUBANESWAR: The Biju Janata Dal on Tuesday described the errors in the newly-published Odia textbooks as a national embarrassment, and demanded their immediate withdrawal from circulation and a high-level inquiry into the matter.
The textbooks published under the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 contain unprecedented and shameful mistakes which are a direct assault on the Odia language, culture and future of lakhs of children, party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said. He demanded strong action against all those responsible for this. Stating that the BJP government’s “Odia Asmita” slogan stands exposed, Mohanty said rather than promoting Odia pride, the government has demonstrated incompetence, inefficiency and disrespect towards the mother tongue. “The BJP government has portrayed a fake Odia Asmita narrative that has played with the emotions of every Odia,” he added.
Describing the issue as far more serious than mere typographical or experimental mistakes, the party said that these errors would mislead children by providing incorrect information about their history, geography, culture, and identity.
Under the Odisha Curriculum 2025, the new textbooks prepared by State Council for Educational, Research and Training (SCERT) for Classes I to VIII contain nearly 1,678 identified errors. The highest number of 705 mistakes has been found in the Class VIII textbooks alone, he said and added that several significant mistakes in English and Mathematics have been reported.
Mohanty said the School and Mass Education department, in an attempt to conceal its mistakes, hurriedly prepared a correction list, thereby exposing its negligence and lack of accountability.
He said the BJD would continue to raise the matter both inside and outside the Assembly and stand with the teachers, parents and educationists in its fight to protect the Odia language and safeguard the future of children.