Follow example of Dharmendra Pradhan, resign from post, Naveen to Odisha Education Minister

Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday (July 27, 2026) urged School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond to follow the example of former Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and resign over errors in school textbooks for Classes I to VIII.

Speaking to reporters, Mr. Patnaik said the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had been demanding Mr. Gond’s resignation for the past two to three weeks over the inaccuracies in the textbooks.

The Mohan Majhi government has faced significant public embarrassment following the detection of 1,678 mistakes in school textbooks printed for the 2026–27 academic session. Despite the errors being flagged and a high-level committee headed by Development Commissioner D.K. Singh being constituted, students continue to study from error-ridden books in classrooms.

At a press conference in Bhubaneswar on Monday (July 27, 2026), BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty reiterated the party’s demand for the Minister’s resignation, citing the widespread errors in textbooks for Classes I to VIII across Odisha.

The regional party also raised concerns over repeated question paper leak incidents. It stressed that preventing such occurrences and ensuring accountability required strict, impartial, and effective enforcement of the law.

“In Odisha, the BJP government passed the Odisha Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 in the State Legislative Assembly on December 6, 2024. However, despite 23 question paper leak incidents coming to light over the past two years under the ‘double-engine’ government, not a single person has been punished in connection with these cases,” Mr. Mohanty said.

He added that the situation demonstrated that merely enacting stringent laws was insufficient, and that sincere implementation along with exemplary action against those responsible was urgently needed.