Lyrics of the popular Bollywood songs were found in Odisha school textbooks. ‘Nimbooda Nimbooda’ from the 1999 Bollywood film Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, starring Aishwarya Rai have been included in the Odisha class 5 English textbook. It has been included as an example of a Rajasthani folk song.
While the class 8 textbook features ‘Rind Posh Maal’, from the 2000 film Mission Kashmir, as an example of a Kashmiri folk song. Odia folk song ‘Raja Doli’ has bee found in the Class 5 English textbook Pallavi and the lyrics of the song ‘Bumbro… Bumbro’ from Mission Kashmir has been featured in the Class 3 textbook. All four songs are rooted in traditional folk music, reported Indian Express.
The scrutiny has also extended to the Class 6 skill education textbook
Kaushala Sikshya, which teaches students how to prepare dishes such as jhal muri, fruit salad, buttermilk, lassi, mint chutney, sandwiches and kachumber raita.
Errors Spark Row On Social Media
The controversy comes amid criticism over several errors in newly introduced school textbooks, prompting renewed questions about the editing, review and approval process followed before publication.
The error quickly went viral on social media. Congress MP and Mumbai Regional Congress Committee President Varsha Eknath Gaikwad also reacted to the controversy. In a post on X, she wrote, “Reminds me of the famous joke about a student who didn’t study for exams and wrote the plot of Sholay in the answer sheet. This, however, is the syllabus writer’s version of it.”
While a X user said,” Can’t believe such blunder in children’s education book. We really need to be serious about this as children, what they learn today will be the nation’s future.”
Reminds me of the famous joke about a student who didn’t study for exams so wrote the plot of the film Sholay in the answer sheet. This, however, is the syllabus writer version of it. https://t.co/G8fsfwYwrB
— Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (@VarshaEGaikwad) June 29, 2026
Earlier, more than 1,600 errors were found in the newly introduced textbooks for Classes 1 to 8 in Odisha. The School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond on Monday said that corrected versions would be distributed to all government-run schools.
Gond said the government had taken the issue seriously, reported PTI. He said Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had formed an inquiry committee to investigate the lapses, and action had been taken against those responsible. He added that the CM directed officials to send corrected copies of the textbooks to every government school so that teachers could use the revised versions in classrooms.
Bhadrak District Education Officer Chakradhar Mallik said schools had already received correction sheets listing the errors and their corrections.
“The teachers will make the corrections and teach accordingly,” he said.
Meanwhile, several people staged a protest in Berhampur and submitted a memorandum to the chief minister through the Ganjam district education officer. They demanded that the error-filled textbooks be withdrawn completely and replaced with revised editions.
/images/ppid_59c68470-image-178298003716898568.webp)
