Against Textbook Errors

Errors creep into school textbooks more often than many anticipate. Although the content there might look reliable, textbooks are created by humans inside complex systems. A textbook typically makes its way through authors, editors, subject reviewers, designers/layout teams, and printers before reaching government or school approval boards. Each of these points is a place where something can be edited for brevity, leaving the content prone to misinterpretation and inadvertent change. 

Errors might also occur when an elaborate explanation has to be simplified to make it easier for students to comprehend, potentially leading to distortion. The problem with this is that, unlike online educational materials, textbooks do not update instantly. The error might be spotted, but corrections appear only in the next edition, allowing mistakes to live for years. 

According to a news report carried by this daily the other day, numerous mistakes can be noticed in many Nepali school textbooks. While some are factual errors, print errors (typos), others – the more serious kind – are inappropriate and silly content that not only mislead students but also offend many teachers, parents, and activists, among others. According to animal rights activists, the wrong terminology in a textbook for grade 6 normalises cruelty and violence against animals.

What's more, some textbooks also fawn over foreign women icons without giving the full picture that also takes into account their dark sides, but scarcely mention, let alone praise, those born on our own soil who went on to make notable contributions to our society. In other cases, teachers had been teaching students false history. Why? Because the resource they had gone through to teach had been false.  This is by no means an exhaustive list; every year, numerous mistakes and incorrect data are published in textbooks.

After complaints and criticisms, many of these errors and shortcomings were revised and rectified. However, the damage has been done. The authors have issued apologies for the error, but none have been held accountable. Stakeholders claim such blatant mistakes undermine trust in the entire textbook development process. The authors and publishers were urged to immediately acknowledge the error and revise the text. Critics also argued that such an incident raised serious questions about the textbook review process and quality control mechanisms.

False information and incorrect data are repeatedly published in many books, despite the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC) following a lengthy process in developing textbooks. This implies that the CDC included content without conducting proper research. Experts argue that teaching such grossly false history to students erodes faith in the entire textbook publication process.

A textbook selection committee is said to be formed every academic year to select appropriate books for students. The fact that it is hard to identify who actually made the errors makes it difficult to hold any one person accountable, as textbooks are prepared through a lengthy and multi-layered process. Almost all textbooks lack proper fact-checking and cross-verification after writing, which creates mistrust among readers. 

To address this problem, experts suggest conducting independent reviews, rechecks, and thorough proofreading before sending textbooks to print. The mushrooming of publishers, some of which are unscrupulous ones for whom money matters over everything else, and the proclivity to write books for fame without being truly qualified have made the matter worse.  Only through strict governmental regulation can this trend be checked and many such embarrassing mistakes be prevented.