In damage control mode, JKBOSE rues criticism over mix-up in textbook

Srinagar, Feb 17: The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (BOSE) has found itself in a damage control mode with regard to the issue concerning the class 10th textbook of Economics, Disaster Management and Road Safety Education.

In a statement, JKBOSE has said that the stakeholders should not highlight the errors, pointed out in textbooks, on social media but should be brought to the notice of JKBOSE officials for its rectification.

"If any error is identified by the students, teachers or parents in any textbook published by the JKBOSE, it should be brought to the notice of the BOSE authorities for its rectification but not in the social media," the JKBOSE statement reads.

The statement comes days after the JK Board invited ridicule for a copy-paste change in a Class 10 textbook. The error was spotted in the hard copy of the textbook while the soft copy of the same edition was available on the official website of the JKBOSE till February 16 morning.

The BOSE textbook came under scanner after a video expose on how the BOSE’s textbook division had replaced the word “state” with “UT” after J&K became a Union Territory in 2019.

Much to the shock and surprise of students and teachers, the changed word “state” includes the “state” related to “state of affairs” rather than State as an administrative entity.

Meanwhile, JKBOSE officials released a video and said the error was rectified in the latest edition of the textbook and it also removed the soft copy on the official website as well. The JKBOSE authorities said that highlighting errors in media maligns its image.

"If any error is spotted it should not be highlighted in social media, as this act may malign the image of this grand organisation," the JKBOSE statement reads, adding that the "grand organisation" has always been a "forerunner in addressing the student issues even in the toughest times in the past."

After removing the soft copy containing errors from its website, JKBOSE informed the stakeholders that the copies of this textbook being sold for market supply contain no such error.

Notably, the soft copy of the textbook having such errors was uploaded in late 2024, on the website for the use of students during winter vacations.

Meanwhile, JKBOSE has said that it publishes more than 145 titles in a session "which is a laborious task" but contrary to the JKBOSE claims, there was no proof reading done in the earlier edition as the errors were spotted in the textbook. Amid the JKBOSE claims that the revised edition of the book, available in the market had no errors, there are chances that some students will still get the older version of the textbook as the School Education Department is banking on the previous years' used books amid the shortage of the JKBOSE textbooks for the schools.