The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has found itself in a spot after it found that the political maps used in history textbooks of Class 10 had Andaman and Lakshwadeep islands missing.
While the board has already asked the distributing agency to stop the sale of the textbook, it is awaiting instructions from the government on initiating action against persons responsible for the goof-up.
According to political activists, after it was found that the geography textbooks of Class 10 in English and Marathi had maps showing Arunachal Pradesh outside India, they decided to check the maps in other textbooks.
“While the history textbooks in Marathi show the two Union Territories in the India map, the English textbooks don’t have them at all,” said the activist. The activists informed board officials about the gaffe on Monday.
In fact, the MSBSHSE in an official statement admitted to the grammatical and factual errors in the history textbooks.
“There have been various errors in the textbooks and the board is taking steps to rectify them,” said MSBSHSE secretary Krishna B. Patil.
He added that while the history textbooks in Marathi did not have any errors, the textbooks in English had no demarcations in the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal that indicate the group of islands that form the two union territories.
“The board has already instructed Balbharti to stop the sale and distribution of about 1.02 lakh textbooks. A sticker carrying the correct map will be pasted in place of the erroneous map,” said Mr Patil.
When asked about the action against the persons guilty of the goof-up, Mr Patil said that the board had already submitted its report with the names of the persons responsible. “We are awaiting instructions from the government on the severity of the action to be initiated against them,” he added.