Bhubaneswar: Odisha\u2019s School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond Thursday alleged that media reports on errors in the Odia textbook for Class I in English medium private schools, supplied by the state government, are exaggerated.<\/p>\n
The state government would soon provide corrected versions of textbooks to students, Gond told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at his chamber.<\/p>\n
After large-scale errors were noticed in textbooks of the Odisha government schools, mistakes were allegedly detected in the National Anthem and state song in the Odia textbook for class-I students in English medium private institutes.<\/p>\n
Though the schools are run privately, the state government supplies the Odia language textbooks for the students.<\/p>\n
Referring to the \u2018errors\u2019 found in the National Anthem and the state song in the textbook, the minister said, \u201cThe media reports are not based on facts.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the claims regarding mistakes in the Class I textbooks were being misrepresented by a section of the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kind of errors being reported since yesterday do not exist in the manner they are being projected. Corrected textbooks will soon be provided to students,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
He also said that several media outlets reported the inclusion of the \u2018Nimbooda Nimbooda\u2019, a popular song from the 1999 Bollywood movie \u2018Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam\u2019, in the Odia school textbooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe matter has been portrayed incorrectly. The National Education Policy (NEP) encourages exposure to songs and cultural content from various states. Therefore, \u2018Nimbooda Nimbooda\u2019 was part of school textbooks in Odisha,\u201d Gond said.<\/p>\n
Alleging that the media have been spreading misinformation, the minister urged them not to propagate negativity.<\/p>\n
The minister\u2019s statement came a day after his department described the allegations of error in the textbooks of Class-I students of English Medium schools as \u201cunjustified.\u201d<\/p>\n
These fresh mistakes were found when the CID-Crime Branch of the Odisha Police is probing into the large-scale errors in the textbooks for the students of classes 1 to 8 in Odia medium government schools.<\/p>\n
Over 1,600 mistakes, including spelling errors and incorrect names of eminent personalities, were found in 55 books supplied by the department.<\/p>\n
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has ordered the CID to probe into the large-scale mistakes found earlier in textbooks. Majhi suspects that there was a \u201cconspiracy\u201d behind the publication of error-ridden textbooks.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress Thursday said the CID-CB has arrested only one person in the earlier case of the errors found in textbooks from classes 1 to 8.<\/p>\n