Cuttack: Orissa high court on Friday gave the state govt a week to explain the delay in correcting errors detected in textbooks of Classes I to VIII in the current 2026-27 academic session.A division bench, comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Chittaranjan Dash, directed the state to file an affidavit within the deadline and fixed Nov 9 for the next hearing.The direction came on a PIL filed by Bhubaneswar-based human rights activist and advocate Prabir Kumar Das, who has sought judicial intervention to ensure preparation and distribution of error-free books within a stipulated time frame.The petition said 1,678 errors had been detected in 55 books prepared by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 framework. The mistakes came to light in June, after distribution, triggering widespread public criticism.Despite six months of the academic session having elapsed since April 1, the govt was yet to prepare, print and distribute corrected editions, the petitioner alleged.The PIL contended that uploading a list of corrections on the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) website was inadequate to address the problem. The large number of errors had left students confused and deprived them of proper and quality education, it said.The petitioner also sought implementation of recommendations made by a high-level inquiry committee, headed by the development commissioner, to prevent recurrence of such lapses.The committee had proposed a four-stage proofreading mechanism covering academic content, factual accuracy and images, language and the printer’s final proof. Each stage would require signed clearance, while a digitally approved final PDF would serve as a “locked master copy” for printing.The PIL, citing govt reports, stated that the errors had caused a financial loss of Rs 175 crore to the state and affected around 46 lakh students.Das urged the court to direct the govt to ensure distribution of corrected editions within a stipulated time frame and put safeguards in place to prevent similar mistakes in future. The errors ranged from spelling and grammatical errors to incorrect references to eminent personalities and factual inaccuracies.