Odisha CID arrests former SCERT director at school textbook error case
Prison Investigation Division (CID) of Odisha on Tuesday arrested former State Council of Academic Analysis and Coaching (SCERT) director Manoj Padhi over alleged irregularities within the preparation and publication of faculty textbooks that contained greater than 1,600 errors, inflicting an estimated lack of ₹175 crores to the state exchequer.
“The lapses led to the printing and distribution of misguided textbooks at an estimated value of about ₹175 crore to the state exchequer,” mentioned a CID official.
Padhi was arrested after extended questioning as a part of the CID’s investigation into errors present in newly revealed textbooks for Lessons I to VIII beneath the state’s revised curriculum aligned with the Nationwide Schooling Coverage (NEP) 2020. CID registered a case beneath varied sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), together with prison conspiracy, public servant framing an incorrect doc with intent to trigger harm, and prison breach of belief.
CID officers alleged that Padhi, who headed SCERT through the textbook preparation course of, didn’t correctly supervise, coordinate and approve the manuscripts earlier than publication.
Officers mentioned he knowingly cleared print-ready variations with out adequately inspecting factual, scientific, geographical, translation and pictorial content material, amounting to prison misconduct and culpable negligence.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had earlier suspended Padhi after the controversy surfaced and ordered a CID probe following a grievance filed by present SCERT director Madhusmita Sahu.
A Particular Investigation Group (SIT), supervised by an SP of CID is inspecting each stage of the textbook improvement course of, together with content material creation, overview, approval, printing and distribution, to find out accountability for the alleged lapses.
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The controversy erupted after greater than 1,600 errors had been recognized in 55 textbooks ready for major faculty college students beneath the Odisha Curriculum Framework for Faculty Schooling 2025. The errors drew criticism from opposition events, educationists and fogeys, elevating considerations over high quality management in authorities faculty textbooks.
Final month, a government-appointed committee submitted its inquiry report, following which the state suspended Padhi and three assistant administrators and initiated disciplinary proceedings in opposition to six different assistant administrators.
Among the many errors had been a Class V textbook claiming that infertile girls may regain fertility by circumambulating the Sitabinji collapse Keonjhar district, mismatched illustrations and inaccurate scientific explanations.
Officers aware of the investigation mentioned the errors had been linked to a hurried curriculum overhaul, inadequate time for manuscript preparation, defective translation of Nationwide Council of Academic Analysis and Coaching (NCERT) materials and deviations from the prescribed textbook improvement course of. All 55 textbooks had been ready inside 15 months because the state sought to introduce the brand new curriculum concurrently for Lessons I to VIII.
The CID officers mentioned extra officers accountable for the lapses could be arrested.
