Patnaik Demands Education Minister's Exit Over 2,000 Textbook Blunders
Opposition leader Naveen Patnaik is calling for Nityananda Gond to step down following the discovery of massive errors in Odisha school books. The demand follows a similar high-profile resignation by Dharmendra Pradhan at the federal level.
Accountability Demanded Over Curricular Failures
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik called for the immediate resignation of Odisha’s School and Mass Education Minister, Nityananda Gond, on July 27, 2026. Patnaik asserted that the Minister fractured student trust by allowing the distribution of textbooks riddled with thousands of inaccuracies to government schools. This political pressure intensifies as the BJD aligns its demands with recent precedents in the Union Cabinet.
A Comparative Call for Resignation
Patnaik explicitly urged Gond to mirror the actions of Dharmendra Pradhan, who vacated his post as Union Education Minister on July 25, 2026, following national outcry over NEET examination irregularities. The BJD has maintained this stance for several weeks, arguing that public confidence in the state's academic integrity has reached an all-time low. The CPI(M) bolstered these sentiments by staging demonstrations at Master Canteen Square on Monday morning.
Unprecedented Geographic and Scientific Inaccuracies
The controversy centers on more than 2,000 recorded errors identified in State Board materials for Classes I through VIII. Some of the more egregious examples include:
- Describing physicist Isaac Newton as an expert pilot.
- The misplacement of Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills within the state of Jharkhand.
Multi-Party Backlash and Legal Consequences
The Congress party entered the fray on July 26, 2026, when state president Bhakta Charan Das threatened a statewide shutdown and a protest at the Minister's residence if Gond remains in office beyond a week. In response to the fallout, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi transferred the investigation to the Crime Branch of Odisha Police. Law enforcement has already arrested a former director of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). Additionally, authorities suspended three assistant directors and launched disciplinary actions against six other officials.
Defending the administration, BJP general secretary Biranchi Narayan Tripathy challenged the BJD’s ethics, pointing to previous corruption allegations under the former government where ministers did not step down on moral grounds.
Source: The Hindu — Home
