Textbook embarrassments: The strange mistakes on schoolbooks

Do not slander - that could have at least passed as a slogan on the school textbook.

But - 'Paraninda Bhalo Na' - the text decided in Bangla by the Prime Minister's Office was shockingly transformed to 'Do Not Heart Anybody'.

The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education blamed the officials at the National Curriculum and Textbook Board for the mistake that remains a mystery.

But officials at the board were tightlipped about the faux pas that made it to print on a Hindu religion textbook for third grade.

The government last year decided to print photos of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the cover of textbooks for grade one to five.

Her office then approved some mottos or slogans first selected by the primary education ministry for accompanying the photos.

The motto - Paraninda Bhalo Na or 'To Slander Is Bad' - was selected for the third grade book and sent to the textbook board, said primary education ministry’s Additional Secretary Md Gias Uddin Ahmed.

But the NCTB without explanation dropped the Bangla text and replaced it with, Do Not Heart Anybody, an act which demands investigation, according to the additional secretary. He said none of the PMO-approved mottos were in English.

Attempts to get an explanation from the NCTB turned futile. Narayan Chandra Saha, the board's chairman, declined comment much like the other officials.        

Over 40 million school students were given more than 360 million textbooks and other school materials on the first day of 2017.

Soon the textbooks riddled with various mistakes became the topic of ridicule and astonishment on social media websites. The spelling errors worried many about the kind of educational quality the children were now exposed to.

The NCTB, under fire, has formed a committee for reviewing the work and until Monday, two officials were punished and made OSDs following a primary inquiry into the errors.

The Bangla alphabet guide for the first grade showed a girl asking for an 'Orna', or a long scarf, next to an O-sounding letter, causing much anger on Facebook.

But the books used in 2013, based on the 2012 curriculum, also had O for 'Orna Chai' or 'I want an Orna'.  

In the reading section in the first-grade Bangla book, 'Auzo', an archaic word for goat, has replaced the usual 'Azogor', or boa, next to the Bangla Au-sounding letter. 

An illustration of a goat trying to climb up a mango tree was also put in that section.

Changes made to the poem 'Adorsha Chhele' by Kushumkumari Das for third grade has also raised many questions.

Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid will hold a press conference on Tuesday morning amid waves of criticism and bursts of sarcasm around the blunders.