Student points out error in textbook, bureau corrects it | Mumbai News

Mumbai: After spotting an error in the Class 12 Biology textbook while preparing for his board exams last year, Atharva Tikare, a resident of Nerul, thought of bringing it to the notice of Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, Balbharati, Pune. He expected the bureau to react to his mail immediately. However, with no response from the official for a long time, he completely forgot about the issue. About two weeks ago, almost a year later, Tikare was pleasantly surprised to receive a letter from the bureau thanking him for spotting the error.
Tikare told TOI that he noticed the error in the state board textbook and decided to bring it to the board’s notice. “I did not want other students to rely on the erroneous reaction given on page 149 under the chapter Plant Growth and Mineral Nutrition. I wanted it to be rectified. Most students either believe the textbook or, even if they spot the error, turn a blind eye to it. While initially, I expected them to write back to me, I slowly started losing hope and forgot about it,” said Tikare, adding he was more than happy to get a response. Tikare was one of the high scorers in Class 10 with 98.6% and secured 82% in the HSC. He is currently preparing for NEET-UG 2025.
The letter mentioned that the student’s suggestions were placed before the textbook committee members for consideration and were accepted, and that changes are being made in the textbooks published for the 2025-26 academic session. The bureau thanked him in the letter for his suggestion. Tikare suggested that a given reaction on page numbers 149 and 150 was incorrect and therefore either the reaction had to be corrected or the statement about the reaction had to be corrected to give the correct outcome.
An official from Balbharati said the bureau follows a stringent scrutiny process while publishing textbooks and care is taken to ensure that they are completely error-free. “This was a rare case where a student pointed out an error in the textbooks, and his suggestions have been incorporated,” said the official.