Zaveyi Nyekha
District Education Officer, Phek
It is appalling to learn that not less than 29 mistakes/errors were detected in the Mathematics Text Book for the Standard of Class 9 which was written by PK Nayar, Evergreen Publication (India) Ltd, 4738/23, Ansari Road, Darya Ganj, New Delhi – 110002, prescribed as a textbook for the students of class 9 by Nagaland Board of School Education vide letter No.NBSE-54/Ex-TB/2006-07/ 6026 Dated Kohima, the 15th September, 2006, to be used in this academic session 2007 by all the Govt. recognized schools with grading system. It was introduced with allocation of marks as follows:- 80% of marks for External examination and 20% of marks for Internal Assessment.
Despite the said 29 errors so far detected in the said Mathematics Text Book, it is surprising that all schools have accepted the Text Book without a murmur. No Mathematics subject teachers/individuals have so far lodged their complaint with the responsible authority for the rectification of those errors. Is this silence due to ignorance? Indifference? Or is it due to lack of concern for students’ future? Or maybe fear of retribution by the concerned authority? Whatever the reason may be, these errors detected in the Text Book should be viewed with concern by one and all. Here, we are talking about the future of our children, who shall be the good citizens of tomorrow. We can not and we do not have the right to jeopardize the future of our children on account of somebody’s carelessness or indifferences.
Most of us must have experienced during our schooling that even without erroneous text book, we find quite difficult to solve mathematical problems. So, how can we expect our children to fare well in Mathematics when they are provided with an error riddled text book? How can we expect them to compete at the national level when the School Board can not even issue proper standard text book to our children? This indifferent attitude of the writer should be condemned by all and lack of concern should be rectified immediately by the concerned authority. In this cutthroat competitive society issuing error riddled text books to children is a very serious matter and should not be taken lightly. The future of our children can not be compromised at any cost.
Is it not the bounden duty of NBSE to monitor/check and cross check all the text books before approving it for publication? What is ailing in the concerned authority? Is it lack of experienced/competent manpower in the department? Or is it lack of time? Whatever the reason may be, the action of the department is inexcusable. If all our students failed in their examination due to the errors committed, whom shall we blame?
The writer of the said text book also should be held responsible for committing such a gross error. The saying goes that “to err is human,’ but 29 errors in a single mathematics text book is too much. Was it intentional? What’s the motive behind it? If it were any other book, be it magazine, novels, etc., it won’t matter much. But being a Text Book, that too Mathematics, the writer should have taken extra care not to commit mistakes because Mathematics and Science deals with facts and figures and exactness of answers is expected from the students. The writer should have shown a little bit of concern as thousands of students shall be depending on his book. He should not have published the book in such a hurry. I agree to a certain degree that it’s a sort of business (selling of text book to the Govt.), but profiting at the cost of our students’ career is a big “NO” and is unforgivable.
All things said and done, the NBSE should try to rectify the errors in the said Mathematics Text Book at the earliest. My main apprehension is about the impact of such erroneous text books on our students’ career. The competency and experience of teachers in rural areas are not at par with those of the cities and towns. So, in such a situation, when such error riddled text books are approved and distributed to our schools, the competent teachers of towns and cities will no doubt rectify the errors and hence impart the correct answers to their students. But, unfortunately, many rural school teachers are not qualified or competent enough. Moreover, many of them will take it for granted that such an esteemed Board will never issue erroneous text books to its students and hence will impart the wrong answers to the students without a second thought, thus compromising the students’ career prospects. If such a trend were to develop, the majority of the underprivileged students shall never be able to achieve success in the field of education, and hence life.
Therefore, allow me to make a few suggestions:-
1. The NBSE should never allow such irresponsible and money-minded writers to ever bring out any kind of text book in the future, though it is a business.
2. The NBSE should rectify the book with a high competency committee and there shouldn’t be any room for mistake.
3. The subject teachers of all schools should be encouraged to go through the entire text book before they start the academic session and bring forward to the notice of the concerned authority if any anomalies are found in the text book.
4. The NBSE should not set questions on the errors detected for the examination if those were not rectified officially to the schools.
The errors (see box) found in the text book – some are minor, but some are major – are corrected with an experienced teacher for the benefit of the entire class 9 students of Nagaland. I wish all the best to the class 9 students and hope to see them in class 10 in the next academic session.
