Following complaints, SCERT withdrew the handbook and uploaded a corrected version on its website.
Published Aug 18, 2025 | 2:33 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 18, 2025 | 6:52 PM
File photo of Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty. (comvsivankutty /Facebook)
A controversy has erupted in Kerala over factual errors in textbooks and handbooks prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), with one passage on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose triggering widespread criticism and prompting the government to act against those responsible.
The row began after the draft of a Class 4 Environmental Studies teachers’ handbook stated that Bose “fled to Germany fearing the British” before forming the Indian National Army (INA).
Educators and organisations slammed the description as a serious distortion of history, pointing out that Bose travelled abroad to garner international support for India’s freedom struggle.
Following complaints, SCERT withdrew the handbook and uploaded a corrected version on its website.
Education Minister V Sivankutty on Monday admitted that “historical errors” had crept into the draft and confirmed that members of the textbook-writing committee responsible for the mistake would be debarred from further academic activities.
“The corrected text is now available. SCERT has been instructed to ensure that only historically accurate material is printed,” he said.
The controversy comes amid a wider debate on inaccuracies in the state’s Class 4 Social Studies textbook, including wrongly crediting Sarojini Naidu as the first woman president of the Indian National Congress instead of Annie Besant, and attributing the formation of the INA to Bose rather than Captain Mohan Singh and Rash Behari Bose.
Errors were also spotted in maps that omitted Assam and Jharkhand.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) accused the CPI(M)-led government of “deliberately distorting history” to malign national icons.
SCERT officials, however, maintained that the lapses were unintentional and said an internal inquiry was underway to strengthen quality control.
