Heads roll over KCR foreword in textbooks, top officials shifted

HYDERABAD: Taking a serious note of the blunder in school textbooks printed with a foreword mentioning K. Chandrasekhar Rao as chief minister, the Congress govt on Friday cracked the whip on the officials responsible for the faux pas by effecting a major reshuffle in the education department.
The govt ordered the transfer of S Srinivasa Chary, director, Govt Text Book Press, and M.Radha Reddy, director, State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). While Chary was asked to take charge as additional director, Model Schools, Radha Reddy was directed to take charge as assistant state project director, Samagra Shiksha.
G Ramesh, additional director, school education, was appointed as the SCERT director, while Telangana Residential Educational Institutions Society (TREIS) secretary Ramana Kumar has been given the responsibility of the director of Text Book Press.
Over 25 lakh Telugu textbooks were distributed among students of classes 1 to 10 with K Chandrasekhar Rao's name mentioned as Telangana chief minister.
The two senior officers - Radha Reddy and Chary - have also been issued show-cause notices seeking an explanation over the blunder within three days.
"If a reply is not submitted within the stipulated time frame, charges of negligence and disobedience will be framed," said K Lingaiah, additional director, school education. He added: "If a reply is received and the govt is satisfied with it, the issue will be considered resolved. But if the response is unsatisfactory, a departmental enquiry will be initiated."
The foreword on the Telugu textbooks printed by SCERT referred to KCR as CM, Sabitha Indra Reddy as education minister and had names of some other officials who served during the BRS regime. The blunder was noticed when the distribution of books started on June 12, the first day of the new academic year and left the Congress govt embarrassed. When TOI reached out to Chary, he said that a response to the notice will be sent to the govt at the earliest. While Radha Reddy was not available for a comment, officials close to her said she was bogged down with a health emergency and would reply to the school education commissioner's notice in a day or two.