Bhubaneswar, June 27: Deputy Leader of Opposition and BJD MLA Prasanna Acharya on Saturday demanded that a high-level probe be ordered to probe the massive errors in the new textbooks prepared for students from Classes 1 to 8 and to identify the "conspirators" behind the grave mistakes.

The fresh demand came a day after Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi termed the over 1,600 errors in school textbooks a “possible conspiracy”

“This is a crime. Chief Minister himself suspects possible conspiracy in the incident. Hence, a high-level probe is needed to go into the root of the case and bring the conspirators to the limelight. Administrative probe will not be sufficient,” said Acharya.

On Friday, Chief Minister Majhi while terming the errors in school textbooks a “possible conspiracy,” suspended former Director of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (TE&SCERT) Manoj Padhi, along with three Assistant Directors, for the gross mistake in school textbooks.

The Chief Minister took the action based on the findings of a committee headed by Development Commissioner DK Singh, which inquired into the lapses in the preparation of the textbooks. Disciplinary action has also been initiated against six more assistant directors.

The CM constituted the committee after 1,678 errors were detected across 55 new SCERT textbooks for students in Classes 1 to 8, including factual inaccuracies, grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and wrong references. 

In Class 8 Social Science book, Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills are stated to be in Jharkhand, and the Karnataka Assembly building is identified as the Odisha Vidhan Sabha. Sir Isaac Newton is described as the “greatest pilot” in the Class 8 science book, while Hampi in Karnataka is identified as the Konark Sun Temple in another Class 8 book, titled Jasmine.