Odisha CM Majhi suspends 4 officials over 1,678 school textbook errors
Synopsis
Odisha's Chief Minister didn't just order a review — he suspended the SCERT director and three other officials after an inquiry confirmed 1,678 errors in school textbooks, with Class VIII alone carrying 705 mistakes. Fourteen corrective measures, including a public errata portal and mandatory pre-print approvals, signal a systemic overhaul of the state's textbook publishing process.
Key Takeaways
Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi suspended 4 senior officials , including former SCERT director Manoj Padhi , over textbook errors.
Disciplinary proceedings initiated against 6 additional Assistant Directors .
Inquiry confirmed 1,678 errors across Class I to Class VIII textbooks; Class VIII alone had 705 mistakes .
A three-member committee under Development Commissioner Anu Garg submitted the report after being constituted on 18 June 2025 .
The state government will implement all 14 corrective measures , including a master Errata Register within 7 days and a Public Errata Portal .
No future textbook will go to press without formal approval on language, content, illustrations, and accuracy.
Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on 27 June 2025 suspended four senior education officials and initiated disciplinary proceedings against six others after an inquiry committee confirmed 1,678 errors in state school textbooks for Classes I to VIII. The action follows a report submitted by a high-level panel constituted under Development Commissioner Anu Garg, according to an official statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
Who Has Been Suspended
The former director of the Directorate of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Manoj Padhi, has been placed under suspension along with three Assistant Directors — Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu, and Bharati Tudu.
Separately, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against six more Assistant Directors: Bandita Pattnaik, Manas Ranjan Rout, Manoranjan Mahapatra, Dr Prashant Kumar Sahu, Manas Kumar Nayak, and Dr Sudarshan Santara.
Scale of the Textbook Errors
The inquiry committee found 1,678 identified errors across the newly published textbooks. The Class VIII books alone accounted for 705 mistakes — the highest among all grades. Within Class VIII, Jijnasa carried 294 errors, Sanskrit had 114, Literature contained 31, and Social Science recorded 25, with additional significant errors flagged in English and Mathematics.
The 14 Corrective Measures
The three-member committee recommended 14 measures to rectify errors and strengthen quality control. These include the preparation of a master Errata Register by SCERT within seven days, the supply of replacement pages or reprinted inserts for serious errors, and the distribution of printed correction sheets to all affected students.
The committee further recommended declaring a corrected PDF version as the official teaching copy, launching immediate correction orientation programmes for teachers, and establishing a Public Errata Portal. It also called for show-cause notices against the DTP agency, the printer, and the approving authority, as well as the creation of a Quality Assurance Cell within SCERT. The CMO confirmed that all 14 recommendations will be implemented by the state government.
Background and What Comes Next
The state government constituted the high-level committee on 18 June 2025, with Development Commissioner Anu Garg as chairperson and members Singh, Smita Pani, and Bijay Ketan Upadhyay. The panel was tasked with investigating the publication of errors across Class I to Class VIII textbooks. Going forward, no textbook will be sent to the printing press without formal approval covering language, content, illustrations, and overall accuracy — a procedural safeguard that was evidently absent in this cycle.
Point of View
Where errors typically draw committee reports but rarely personnel consequences. However, the deeper question is systemic: how did 1,678 errors — 705 in a single grade — survive the entire editorial and approval chain? The 14 recommendations address remediation, but they largely describe processes that should have existed before publication. Until states invest in independent pre-publication review mechanisms rather than post-error inquiry panels, such crises will recur with different names and the same avoidable damage to students.
NationPress
26 Jun 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Odisha CM Mohan Majhi suspend education officials?
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi suspended four senior officials after an inquiry committee confirmed 1,678 errors in newly published school textbooks for Classes I to VIII. The suspensions follow the report of a high-level panel constituted under Development Commissioner Anu Garg, which found serious lapses in the textbook preparation and approval process.
Who are the officials suspended in the Odisha textbook error case?
The four officials suspended are former SCERT and Directorate of Teacher Education director Manoj Padhi and three Assistant Directors — Pralipta Mishra, Dilip Kumar Sahu, and Bharati Tudu. Disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against six other Assistant Directors.
How many errors were found in Odisha school textbooks?
The inquiry committee identified 1,678 errors across Class I to Class VIII textbooks. Class VIII had the highest count at 705 errors, including 294 in Jijnasa, 114 in Sanskrit, 31 in Literature, and 25 in Social Science, along with significant errors in English and Mathematics.
What corrective steps has the Odisha government announced?
The state government has committed to implementing all 14 recommendations made by the inquiry committee. These include preparing a master Errata Register within seven days, distributing correction sheets and replacement pages to students, launching a Public Errata Portal, and establishing a Quality Assurance Cell within SCERT. No future textbook will be sent to print without formal approval on language, content, and accuracy.
When was the inquiry committee on Odisha textbook errors formed?
The high-level three-member committee was constituted on 18 June 2025 under Development Commissioner Anu Garg, with members Singh, Smita Pani, and Bijay Ketan Upadhyay. It was tasked with investigating errors in school textbooks from Class I to Class VIII.
