The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is set to make the large-scale errors in Odisha’s school textbooks a major issue during the monsoon session of Parliament beginning Monday, with party president and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik calling for a nationwide debate on the integrity of the education system and urging the Centre to engage in dialogue with protesting students.
The BJD has said it will raise several Odisha-related issues in Parliament, including large-scale errors in textbooks introduced for Classes I to VIII under the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), alleged failures of the two-year-old BJP government in the state, a sharp rise in prices of essential commodities, problems faced by vehicle owners due to ethanol blending in petrol, the energy crisis due to the West Asia conflict, and the deteriorating law and order situation.
The textbook controversy is expected to be one of the party’s principal issues during the session. Manas Mangaraj, Rajya Sabha member and leader of the BJD parliamentary party, said the errors in the newly introduced textbooks had adversely affected the education system and impacted more than 50 lakh students. Despite the seriousness of the matter, the state government has treated it very casually, he said.
In a statement, Patnaik said trust in the country’s education system stands broken and the damage goes far beyond a failed examination. “For millions of children in our country, education remains the only path to a brighter future,” he said, stressing that every developed nation has been built on a strong education system and a transparent and credible examination process.
The former chief minister said India has made remarkable progress because of the strength of its education system, which has produced generations of doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers and innovators.
“The failure tells deserving students that hard work no longer matters and robs them of the only ladder out of poverty. A nation that compromises the integrity of its examination system compromises its own future,” he said.
Patnaik stressed that this grave issue affecting millions of students across the country must be taken up in Parliament as the highest priority. He called for a thorough debate that would lead to concrete reforms to ensure that paper leaks, flawed assessments and systemic failures are not repeated. He also demanded that accountability be fixed for what he described as a serious breach of public trust.
The BJD president also appealed to the government to initiate a meaningful dialogue with students who had been peacefully protesting for days. “Politics aside,” he said, the protesting students should be given a platform to express their views. “The BJD stands firmly with the youth and students of the country,” he added.
The party’s Parliament strategy, however, will extend beyond education. At an all-party meeting held in New Delhi ahead of the monsoon session, the BJD discussed a range of issues it intends to raise. The party is also expected to press for discussions on Odisha’s economic and developmental concerns, including adequate coal royalty revenue and the agrarian crisis.
The alleged non-utilisation of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds is another issue the party plans to raise. While MPs have demanded an increase in the existing annual allocation of Rs 5 crore, Mangaraj said the immediate concern was ensuring that the funds already available were properly utilised.
Referring to his own experience, Mangaraj said he had recommended developmental works in the Chilika Assembly constituency using MPLADS funds, but the projects had not been implemented properly. He further alleged that while expenditure was incurred from an MP’s fund, inauguration plaques carried the names of ministers.
Mangaraj said he had earlier raised the issue before the Department-related Parliamentary Committee and had also discussed it at the all-party meeting. He said he would seek a separate discussion on the matter in Parliament.
