After an error in the teacher text for Class IV Environmental Science kicked up a row, inaccuracies in English and Malayalam Environmental Science textbooks for students have also been flagged.
In the Malayalam medium ‘Parisara Padhanam’ textbook, Chapter II titled ‘India Ente Rajyam’ has an activity in which students have to write the names of the leaders related to certain facts. A query requires students to name the first woman president of the Indian National Congress with a descriptor terming her the ‘Nightingale of India.’ The answer would be Sarojini Naidu, but she was the first Indian woman president of the Congress. Annie Besant was the first woman president of the INC.
Similarly, the textbook asks students to name the person who formed the Indian National Army and fought against the British with a descriptor that says ‘Netaji.’ However, Subhas Chandra Bose revived the INA; it was founded by Mohan Singh. A map of India too has inaccuracies, with Assam finding no mention.
SCERT Director Jayaprakash R.K. says the errors in textbooks have come to their notice. For instance, the question on the Congress woman president inadvertently left out the word Indian. Again, the map did not leave out Assam; only its name went missing.
Teachers had also been given instructions during their training regarding the errors that had cropped up. The printed textbooks, though, continue to carry the factual error.
He said that usually when errors in textbooks come to their attention after printing, these are immediately corrected on the SCERT website. Teachers are then informed about it during their next cluster training.
However, when the SCERT website was checked, it was found that the correction had been made only in the Malayalam textbook, while the English version still asked the name of the first woman to become president of the Indian National Congress, not the first Indian woman.
Similarly, the Malayalam textbook online asks students to name the person who reorganised the Indian National Army and fought against the British, but English one does not mention reorganised; only that he formed the INA.
Case of Assam
The map in the Malayalam textbook online fails to mention Assam, though its capital Dispur is marked. Both Assam and its capital are marked in the English textbook.
Dr. Jayaprakash reiterated that directions to make corrections in the text online had been given as soon as it came to the SCERT’s attention.
The Kerala School Teachers’ Association alleged a deliberate bid to rake up a controversy. Necessary corrections had been made in the textbooks online, it said. Asked about steps to correct the errors in the printed textbook, organisation general secretary T.K.A. Shafi said an option was to make available to students the relevant pages with the corrections. It had been done in the past, but no such decision had been taken as yet, he said.
Recently, the teachers’ handbook for Environmental Science for Class IV had mentioned that freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose fled to Germany ‘fearing’ the British. After the sentence kicked up a storm, the SCERT corrected it.
Published – August 17, 2025 09:59 pm IST
