Naveen Slams Odisha Govt Over Errors in Odia Textbooks

Bhubaneswar: BJD President and Leader of the Opposition Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday strongly criticized the Odisha government over numerous errors found in Odia textbooks, alleging that the BJP government has shown the greatest disrespect to the Odia language despite coming to power under the slogan of “Odia Asmita.”

In a post on social media, Naveen said the mistakes in school textbooks reflect the government’s “irresponsible and callous attitude” towards education.

He expressed concern that while students are already facing delays in receiving textbooks, the presence of multiple errors has further undermined their hopes of receiving quality education.

Describing education as the backbone of society and a pathway to prosperity, Patnaik alleged that the state’s education system has collapsed under the current administration.

“Is this how the BJP government wants to build the future of children?” he questioned.

LoP Naveen pointed out several mistakes in the textbooks, including the misrepresentation of names of eminent personalities, referring to Brahmapur as a district instead of Ganjam, and incorrect spellings. He said these were not minor issues but serious lapses that could negatively impact children’s learning from an early age.

Naveen termed the compromise with children’s education as “unpardonable” and urged the government to immediately provide error-free textbooks and ensure quality education for students across the state.

The textbooks, prepared for the 2026–27 academic session under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Odisha Curriculum Framework 2025, have come under intense scrutiny after teachers identified a series of factual, conceptual and printing errors shortly after the books were distributed to schools.

The mistakes range from inaccurate facts and misleading illustrations to serious scientific and geographical inaccuracies, raising concerns about the quality of the review and publication process.

Among the most widely discussed errors was the description of renowned physicist Sir Isaac Newton as the “Greatest Pilot” instead of a scientist. In another glaring mistake, a photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly building was incorrectly identified as the Odisha Legislative Assembly.

Similarly, the Hampi temple complex in Karnataka was mislabelled as the Konark Sun Temple. Geographical inaccuracies also surfaced, with Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills being shown as located in Jharkhand and Berhampur being referred to as a district instead of a city in Ganjam district. In yet another error, wheat was mistaken for paddy.

The science chapters contained several conceptual mistakes that have drawn criticism from educators. Temperature was incorrectly labelled as pressure, a food web was confused with a food cycle, and the term “Equinox” was wrongly replaced with “Equator.”

The revelations triggered sharp criticism from teachers and education experts, who questioned how such basic errors escaped multiple levels of scrutiny before publication. Many have called for an immediate review of the textbooks and stronger quality-control mechanisms to prevent similar lapses in the future.