Expert panel to ensure error-free textbooks

The School Education Department has introduced new syllabus for Classes 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and Class 12 from this academic year. The new curriculum was designed by the Tamil Nadu Council of Educational Research and Training with the help of experts. It was released this June.

However, soon after the books came out, academicians spotted several mistakes, including printing errors.

According to a senior official from the Directorate of School Education, the members of the curriculum committee who designed the new syllabus had little time to correct the errors. That made the mistakes creep into some of the textbooks, he told DT Next when asked.

“However, a permanent academic committee has been formed to rectify the errors before it is distributed to schools and retailers,” he added. Stating that the State government has already decided to modify the curriculum every year, the official said the committee members would look into every aspect of the modification and would correct errors if any in the textbooks.

“At present, the team is engaged in rectifying mistakes in the third volume textbooks of Classes 10-12, as these three standards have board exams,” he said, adding the corrections would be made in online textbooks simultaneously.

Official said that the team would also seek feedback from the public, teachers and academicians, who have identified errors in the textbooks, so that it could be identified and corrected.

From the coming academic year students will have error free textbooks, the official claimed.