Karnataka Assembly photos, misplaced Niyamgiri hills: Over 1,600 errors found in new Odisha school textbooks

Odisha new school textbooks for the 2026-27 academic session, crafted under the ambitious National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, have been exposed as riddled with an astonishing 1,678 errors, sparking widespread outrage and an immediate high-level probe by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. Mistakes range from egregious factual blunders like misplacing the sacred Niyamgiri Hills in Jharkhand and displaying the Karnataka Legislative Assembly instead of Odisha, to misidentifying Isaac Newton as a 'great pilot' and confusing the Hampi temple complex with the Konark Sun Temple. This monumental oversight undermines the credibility of the state's education system and casts a long shadow over the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, which aims to revolutionize Indian schooling. The textbooks, an 'experimental edition' prepared by the Directorate of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Odisha, were meant to align the curriculum with national standards. However, the sheer scale of inaccuracies—with Class VIII books alone containing 705 errors—has prompted furious condemnation from opposition parties, including the Biju Janata Dal and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who labelled it a 'national embarrassment' and an attack on Odia language and culture. Parents and educators fear students will suffer for months, grappling with misleading information, despite the School and Mass Education Department issuing a corrigendum. Chief Minister Majhi has established a three-member committee, headed by the Development Commissioner, with a tight seven-day deadline to pinpoint responsibility and recommend stringent action against those accountable for these lapses. As schools reopen, teachers are being asked to manually rectify errors, a stopgap measure that highlights the deep systemic flaws exposed. The ensuing report will dictate not only disciplinary actions but also the urgent steps required to provide accurate learning materials, a critical challenge given the time constraints and the trust eroded within the public and political spheres.