Newton a ‘pilot’, Karnataka House becomes Odisha Assembly in new Odia textbooks

Bhubaneswar: A large number of grammatical and factual errors have been detected in the newly introduced Odia textbooks for Classes I to VIII in govt schools, raising concerns over the quality of books prepared under the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 for the 2026-27 academic session.The school and mass education department has identified 1,678 spelling, factual and contextual errors in textbooks across multiple subjects and classes. The books were prepared by the directorate of teacher education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), which engaged teachers and academic experts for the curriculum overhaul undertaken in line with NEP-2020.The errors came to light after the textbooks, delayed due to printing issues, recently reached schools.

Teachers who reviewed the books reported a wide range of mistakes, from spelling errors to serious factual inaccuracies.In one textbook, Sir Isaac Newton is described as a “great pilot” instead of a scientist. The text also states that Newton boiled “water” instead of eggs, whereas the intended reference was that he mistakenly boiled his “watch” while engrossed in an experiment.Several geographical and cultural inaccuracies have also been flagged. A photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been identified as the Odisha Legislative Assembly, while an image of the Hampi temple complex has been used to depict the Konark Sun Temple.

Similarly, Humma salt pans have been shown as being located in “Berhampur district” instead of Ganjam district and Niyamgiri has been identified as a mountain range in Jharkhand rather than Odisha.Apart from numerous spelling mistakes involving place names and historical personalities, textbooks have also been found to contain errors in mathematics, science and geography. In some instances, wheat has been written as paddy, glass as cup, temperature as pressure, food web as food cycle and equinox as equator.

Errors have been reported not only in Odia textbooks but also in Hindi, Sanskrit, English and Urdu books.School and mass education minister Nityananda Gond said, “The present govt implemented NEP-2020 after coming to power, a reform that had not been undertaken by the previous administration. Based on NCERT books, the department prepared 55 new Odia-medium textbooks for Classes I to VIII for the 2026-27 academic session.”He added, “We had formed a steering committee to oversee implementation of the new education policy and based on its recommendations, SCERT prepared the textbooks. The books were prepared within a short period, which may have resulted in some printing and editing errors. We have identified the mistakes and the process to rectify them is underway.”Senior officials of the school and mass education department said all errors have been compiled and a corrigendum has been issued to schools to ensure students are not affected during the academic session.