Newton became a ‘great pilot’, 1678 mistakes in Odisha’s school books created ruckus

If scientists are given wrong identification of pilots and historical places in the same book from which children are studying, then it is natural to raise questions. A big controversy has arisen regarding the education system after hundreds of mistakes were found in the new textbooks of government schools of Odisha.

There has been a controversy over the new books of 2026-27 academic session of government schools in Odisha. After 1,678 mistakes were found in the new books of classes 1 to 8 in the state, the department has raised questions on the working system. After the complaint by the teachers, the government has started investigating the matter.

During the school level review of these books prepared under the National Education Policy and Odisha Curriculum Framework, many shortcomings have come to light. Teachers told that there are a large number of mistakes related to spelling mistakes, facts and context in the books, this reached its extreme when Newton was described as a great pilot and not a scientist.

Which mistake caused the most controversy?

The most controversial was that Newton was described as a great pilot instead of a scientist. Apart from this, many photographs and identification of historical places have also been published wrongly. According to the report, the photograph of Karnataka Assembly has been described as Odisha Assembly while the photograph of Hampi temple complex has been described as Konark Sun Temple.

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Big mistakes found even in subjects like science and geography

Mistakes were found in many examples related to science and geography, where at some places wheat was described as paddy, temperature as pressure, and food web as food cycle. At the same time, the location of Niyamgiri hills and the administrative identity of Berhampur have also been declared wrong, due to which teachers are facing a lot of trouble.

Government ordered investigation

After continuously finding mistakes in the books, the Odisha government has issued orders for a high level inquiry. The government will now find out how such a large number of mistakes remained in the preparation and administration process of the books. Its fellow opposition has called it a serious negligence of the education system.

What did Naveen Patnaik say?

Former Chief Minister of the state and leader of the opposition Naveen Patnaik said that the discovery of hundreds of mistakes has exposed the careless and completely insensitive attitude of the government. In a post on X, Patnaik alleged that students had already faced delays in getting textbooks and that the books they finally received had a lot of errors.

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