Overview
- Official reviews found 1,678 factual, typographical and printing mistakes across 55 state textbooks for Classes I–VIII, including misplaced locations, mislabelled photographs and wrong descriptions of public figures.
- Student groups led by Navnirman Yuva Chhatra Sangathan and BJD youth and student wings escalated action with a planned gherao of the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday and sustained satyagraha and hunger strikes that began in August and early September.
- Protesters and opposition leaders have alleged a Rs 380 crore irregularity in textbook publication and demanded Minister Nityananda Gond’s resignation, a claim that has been repeatedly stated by BJD and supported by the Cockroach Janata Party.
- The state government has suspended four officials, opened disciplinary proceedings against others, accepted recommendations for a four-stage proofreading system and a Textbook Quality Assurance Cell, and began distributing corrected editions with about 45,000 books sent on day one.
- The controversy has immediate effects on students preparing for imminent exams and broader political consequences for the BJP-led state government, which faces intensified calls for accountability and possible probes into the publication process.