Odisha CM suspends ex-SCERT director, three officials over school textbook errors
Bhubaneswar, June 27
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has ordered the suspension of former Director of Teachers Training and SCERT, Manoj Padhi, along with three Assistant Directors, following the submission of a committee report on errors in school textbooks, a statement released on Saturday said.
The committee, constituted under the chairmanship of the Development Commissioner to examine textbook errors, submitted its report to the Chief Minister, based on which action was initiated against officials found responsible for the lapses, it added.
Besides Manoj Padhi, Assistant Directors Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu and Bharati Tudu have been placed under suspension, it added.
"Disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against six other Assistant Directors -- Bandita Pattnaik, Manas Ranjan Rout, Manoranjan Mahapatra, Prashant Kumar Sahu, Manas Kumar Nayak and Dr Sudarshan Santara," it added.
It added that the state government has decided to implement all 14 recommendations made by the committee to "improve" the quality of school education and address errors in textbooks.
"These include the preparation of a master errata register by SCERT, providing corrected information to students, and setting up a Quality Assurance Cell within the institution," it added.
The government has also decided that "no textbook will be sent for printing in the future without obtaining the necessary approvals related to language, content, illustrations and printing quality, with the aim of ensuring error-free textbooks for students," it said.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Suspension is one thing, but what about the students who already studied wrong content? They'll be sitting for exams with half-baked knowledge. The errata register idea is good, but shouldn't the government also issue a public apology to parents? We trust these books for our children's future. 😔
Quality Assurance Cell—what took them so long? Every private publisher has multiple rounds of proofreading. Government textbooks should be held to the highest standard. Also, disciplinary proceedings against six others shows they're serious. But I hope this isn't just a knee-jerk reaction before elections. 👍
As someone who works in education, this is a classic case of administrative failure. The SCERT should have checks in place. Suspending four people is good, but I wonder about the systemic issues. When will we stop treating textbook errors as minor? This affects entire generations of students. Kudos to the committee for a thorough report.
I'm from Odisha and studied from these very textbooks back in the day. Always found random errors in math problems. Good that Padhi is suspended—he was responsible for years. But why suspend only four when six others are also being investigated? Fairness matters too. Let's see if they actually go through with all 14 recommendations this time. 🤔
Happy to see action being taken! But I'm skeptical—similar promises were made in 2019 after a report on textbook errors, yet nothing changed. The 'no printing without approval' rule sounds good, but who ensures the approvers don't make mistakes? We need external audits, not just internal committees. Still, this is a step
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