AI under scrutiny after 1,678 errors found in Odisha school textbooks

Thousands of errors in Odisha's revised school textbooks have triggered questions over quality control, editorial oversight and the role of AI-assisted content creation

Even as artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionised the way governments, businesses and institutions process information, generate content and deliver services at unprecedented speed, the Odisha textbook controversy has emerged as a telling example of how excessive dependence on technology without adequate human supervision can prove costly.

 

The discovery of 1,678 errors in 55 newly revised school textbooks for Classes I to VIII has put the Odisha government in an embarrassing situation and triggered a wider debate on the risks of deploying AI-assisted tools in education without robust checks and balances.

 

The errors identified in the textbooks are not limited to typographical mistakes. Several of them involve glaring factual inaccuracies, incorrect images, grammatical blunders, incorrect spellings, distorted meanings and fractured words that have left teachers, parents and education experts stunned. Among the mistakes detected are the Mughal Empire being written as "Gogal", "Sia" as "Sikh" and Sir Isaac Newton being described as a "great pilot".

 

A photograph of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly was used instead of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, while an image of Hampi in Karnataka appeared in a lesson where the Sun Temple at Konark should have been depicted. Odisha's Niyamgiri Hills were described as being located in Jharkhand, the Dongria Kondh community was referred to as "Dhongaria", and Berhampur was identified as a district instead of a city in Ganjam district.

 

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has ordered a high-level inquiry headed by the Development Commissioner to investigate how such a large number of mistakes found their way into books meant for lakhs of schoolchildren. The three-member panel has been asked to submit a report within seven days, following which appropriate action will be initiated.

 

Sources said the textbooks were prepared by the Directorate of Teacher Education and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (TE and SCERT) under the Odisha Curriculum Framework for School Education 2025 in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. A total of 2.96 crore textbooks were printed at a cost of around ₹50 crore for more than 50 lakh students across 48,600 schools in the state.

 

The revised curriculum was designed largely on the framework of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) with the objective of aligning Odisha's syllabus with national standards. However, officials involved in the exercise admitted that some content and images sourced from NCERT materials may not have been adapted appropriately for the Odisha context.

 

A senior official associated with the process acknowledged that the books were prepared in less than a year and said there should have been more checks and balances before publication. The official, however, refuted allegations of overdependence on artificial intelligence.

 

Parents' groups and sections of the teaching community argued that the nature of several mistakes bears a resemblance to the kinds of contextual and factual errors commonly produced by generative AI systems when their outputs are not thoroughly reviewed by humans.

 

Basudev Bhatta, president of the Parents Federation, demanded a judicial inquiry into what he described as gross negligence in the preparation of the textbooks. He alleged that some teachers associated with the exercise had admitted to using AI tools to complete portions of the work within a limited timeframe.

 

"Subject experts will definitely not make such glaring mistakes in original writing. There are proof-reading and supervising committees. Why did they not check? There must be an independent inquiry and accountability fixed on those responsible," Bhatta said.

 

Teacher associations have also questioned how such a large number of errors could have escaped scrutiny despite the involvement of experts at multiple levels. Brahmananda Maharana of the All Odisha Primary School Teachers' Association attributed it to apparent failures in proof-reading, editorial review and quality control before the books were approved for printing and distribution.

 

"The cost must be recovered from those who were involved in the process," he demanded.

 

Artificial intelligence experts pointed out the growing challenge confronting institutions as they increasingly adopt AI-powered tools to speed up content creation and translation. While such technologies can significantly reduce time and cost, they remain prone to what experts call "hallucinations" — instances where AI systems generate information that appears convincing but is factually incorrect.

 

"AI can be an excellent assistant, but the A in AI must not be missed. 'Artificial' takes from human-created natural data. Generative is when the artificial intelligence is used to generate too. This literally completes a full circle. Unfortunately, in languages like Odia, human natural data is abysmal. Since we do not have professional communications in Odia, the availability of communication data with such vocabulary and context is not there. A reliance on AI that is learned from unavailable data is more likely to be error-prone," said Vivekananda Pani, co-founder of Bengaluru-based Reverie Language Technologies.

 

Educationists said regional-language content presents unique challenges for AI systems.

 

"Indian languages have cultural references, local contexts and linguistic nuances that machines often struggle to interpret correctly. AI may generate grammatically correct text and content for technical education, but factual or contextual accuracy cannot be guaranteed for historical and geographical subjects. Educational content requires domain experts to validate every output before publication," said Ashok Das, former vice-chairman of the Odisha State Higher Education Council.

 

School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond acknowledged the existence of errors, but described them as minor. He attributed them to the accelerated implementation of NEP 2020, maintaining that errors are common whenever textbooks are printed and are corrected in subsequent editions.

 

The Directorate of TE and SCERT has clarified that the textbooks will not be withdrawn or replaced during the current academic session. Director Madhusmita Sahoo said corrigenda have been sent to schools in two phases and teachers have been instructed to correct the errors while teaching in classrooms.

 

"Reprinting of textbooks is not feasible this year. Revised and corrected editions of the books will be published before the next academic session," she added.