The School and Mass Education department has come under the scanner for erroneously mentioning the number of states in the country as 29 in the textbook for Class IV. The book ‘Ame O Ama Parivesh’ (we and our environment) for Class IV mentions that India has 29 states including Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on page 36 of chapter 15.
In August last year, the Central Government revoked the special status and statehood of J&K and bifurcated it into two union territories (UTs). With this, the number of states came down to 28 with eight UTs. However, the School and Mass Education department didn’t carry out the necessary changes in the textbook.
A guardian Siba Charan Swain of Raghunathpur said in the text, the book mentions that there are 29 states and seven union territories. But a question at the end of the chapter, which asks “how many states are in the country?” doesn’t have the number 29 in its answer section. It has 25, 27, 28 and 30 as options. “This discrepancy has put children in confusion,” he said.
Utkal ME teachers’ association leader Jaya Prakash Panda said, “Officials of School and Mass Education department are to be blamed for the blooper. The department does not include teachers in the team that prepares textbooks for school. Instead, professors of different colleges are selected for preparing textbooks.”The association will approach the State Government to make the necessary changes, he added.