BHUBANESWAR: The BJD on Sunday demanded the resignation of School and Mass Education minister Nityananda Gond within the next 48 hours by taking moral responsibility for the large-scale errors in textbooks for classes I to VIII.
Alleging that corruption of Rs 380 crore had taken place in the printing of these textbooks, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty also sought a CBI probe into the irregularities. The government should recover the public money spent on publishing these defective textbooks from those responsible for it, he said.
“Such widespread errors in the new Odia textbooks prepared under NEP-2020 are not merely administrative mistakes, they are an attack on the Odia language, culture, heritage and the future of lakhs of students. However despite this, the chief minister has not taken action against the minister concerned,” he added. Biju Yuva Janata Dal president Chinmay Sahu and Biju Chhatra Janata Dal president Ipsita Sahu threatened to launch agitation in front of the minister’s official residence if he did not resign within the next 48 hours.