Popular Bollywood song lyrics have been discovered in Odisha school textbooks, which led to widespread controversy. ‘Nimbooda’ from the 1999 film ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, starring Aishwarya Rai, was included in the Class 5 English textbook as an example of a Rajasthani folk song. Meanwhile, the Class 8 textbook features ‘Rind Posh Maal’ from the 2000 film ‘Mission Kashmir’ as a Kashmiri folk song. The Odia folk song ‘Raja Doli’ appears in the Class 5 English textbook and lyrics from ‘Bumbro… Bumbro’, also from ‘Mission Kashmir’, feature in the Class 3 textbook. While all four songs are ultimately rooted in traditional folk music, their presentation via Bollywood cinematic versions has drawn severe criticism.
The scrutiny has also extended to the Class 6 skill education textbook Kaushala Sikshya, which instructs students on how to prepare dishes such as ‘jhal muri’, fruit salad, buttermilk, lassi, mint chutney, sandwiches, and 'kachumber raita'. This latest row comes amidst broader criticism over numerous mistakes in newly-introduced school learning materials, prompting serious questions about the editing, review, and approval processes followed before publication.
The situation quickly went viral on social media. Congress MP and Mumbai Regional Congress Committee President Varsha Eknath Gaikwad reacted to the controversy on X, formerly Twitter, noting that it reminded her of the classic joke about a student who did not study for exams and instead wrote the plot of the film ‘Sholay’ on their answer sheet, calling this the syllabus. Another social media user expressed disbelief at such a blunder in children’s education, emphasising that the nation's future depends entirely on what children are taught today.
Prior to this incident, more than 1,600 errors had already been identified in newly-introduced textbooks for Classes 1 to 8 across Odisha. Minister for School and Mass Education Nityananda Gond mentioned that the government was very serious about this issue. He further said that the state chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi has formed an inquiry committee to probe into the errors, and action against those responsible for the errors has already been taken. Moreover, the state chief minister had also ordered that the new version of the books should be provided to all the government-operated schools where the teachers will use them in their classes right away. Bhadrak District Education Officer Chakradhar Mallik also mentioned that the correction sheets of the books have been sent to the schools.
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