‘Sad UT of affairs’: Replace all job in J&K books draws flak
The book is question is ‘Disaster Management and Road Safety Education’, which is replete with phrases such as the ‘UT of human body’
The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) invited ridicule for an apparent ‘replace all’ job in a version of a Class 10 textbook. As a video about the issue, where every mention of the word ‘state’ has been replaced with ‘UT’ irrespective of the context, did the rounds on social media, people and community leaders took the opportunity to slam the education board and the government.
The book is question is ‘Disaster Management and Road Safety Education’, which is replete with phrases such as the ‘UT of human body’.
For instance, on page numbers 29 and 30, ‘unconsciousness and fainting is a state of human body…’ in the earlier versions has been replaced with ‘unconsciousness and fainting is a UT of human body…’
The book also has a phrase ‘fainting and losing conscience’ instead of ‘fainting and losing consciousness’, drawing even more ridicule.
A 2.16-minute video pointing out the mistake did the rounds on social media. While HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, it accessed an e-version of the book, which verified the mistakes.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader and former J&K education minister Naeem Akhtar slammed the authorities for turning JKBOSE into a ‘hub of mismanagement and centre of mediocrity’. He pointed out that even the phrase ‘state of mind’ has been changed to ‘UT of mind’.
“It would have been ridiculous and hilarious if it were not so serious. The fact is that the future of our children is in the hands of a few illiterate people who masquerade as academicians. It’s time their antecedents are checked and made public,” Akhtar said in a statement.
J&K was stripped of its special status in August 2019 and downgraded to two UTs, J&K and Ladakh. The JKBOSE has been under pressure to make textbooks available, owing to the change of academic calendar to November from March.
Social media had a field day with the mistakes.
“I am still in a UT of shock!” wrote one Altaf Qadri on X. Other users put out posts such as ‘UT of affairs’ and ‘My mental UT is not stable after this’.
JKBOSE chairperson Parikshat Singh Manhas and director academics Sudhir Singh were not available for comments.
The ruling party, National Conference (NC), put out a video showing the correct passage in the book. “Setting the record straight on the JKBOSE viral video - our government is dedicated to providing quality education to J&K kids,” an NC spokesperson said. However, the title of this version still had the above mistake.
An NC leader, however, acknowledged that ‘some old version (with mistakes) of the book may still be available in the market.’