Bhubaneswar: Odisha School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond on Monday said that it is not feasible to withdraw all school textbooks containing errors and replace them with fresh copies. Instead, the government will provide rectified copies of the books to schools across the state, he said.

The minister said a high-level committee had investigated the textbook errors, following which action was initiated. He added that Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had personally taken note of the matter and directed appropriate action.

Gond said revised copies of the corrected portions would be sent to all schools and District Education Officers (DEOs). Students will continue their studies using these corrected copies along with the existing textbooks.

He said the corrections would be made based on the 14 recommendations submitted by the high-level committee, and teaching would be carried out accordingly.

Earlier, the CM had suspended four officials of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and initiated disciplinary proceedings against six others.

The government has also decided to implement all 14 recommendations made by the committee to prevent similar lapses in the future and improve the quality of school education.

Among the key measures, SCERT will maintain a master errata register to record textbook errors, ensure that corrected information reaches all students, and establish a dedicated Quality Assurance Cell to strengthen the textbook review process.

The government has also made it mandatory that no school textbook will be sent to the printing press without obtaining all necessary approvals related to language, illustrations, factual accuracy and printing quality.

Worth mentioning, the government had faced heavy criticism from various quarters after large-scale errors were found in school textbooks for Classes I to VIII.