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Class IX student spots errors in NCERT Science Exemplar
A class IX student from Chandigarh has spotted several errors in the Biology science exemplar issued by NCERT. He has written a letter to the HRD ministry seeking rectifications. He has also urged the minister to improve the standards and quality inspection of textbooks.
Textbooks are meant to teach concepts to students and open up the doors of knowledge. So it comes as a surprise when a student has to open the eyes of the authorities to the errors in textbooks. A Class IX student from St John’s High School, Sector 26, has spotted 7 errors in the biology section of the Science Exemplar Problems by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The boy has written a letter to the Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) and the NCERT, seeking rectification of the same.
Here is an excerpt from his letter dated June 22, 2016, where Sidh Goyal states that he has confirmed the errors from various sources.
“Lakhs of students all over India follow the NCERT books religiously and blindly. We are in the formative years of our education. Wrong concepts and facts taught to us at this stage will have serious negative impact on our future education. We are living in a knowledgeable society and we cannot afford to have so many errors in the books published by our National Council. We have to rely completely on the NCERT books as schools are not allowed to prescribe books of private authors and publishers. Even 2 years back, more than 100 corrections were carried out in the NCERT textbooks of biology after the intervention by the media and the Punjab and Haryana High Court”.
The letter further states, “The NCERT should get all the books thoroughly checked before releasing them.”
Besides writing this letter, Sidh has also sought answers to some queries under the Right to Information Act.