The Karnataka Text Book Society (KTBS), on Tuesday, clarified that no textbooks published by it for classes I to X, bears the image of Malayalam actor Kunchacko Boban as a postman.
The clarification comes following a controversy over the image of a textbook page posted by Boban on social media, which featured him as a postman, along with a humorous caption in Malayalam, in which he said 'he found a government job in Karnataka.'
Following media reports about the actor's post, Karnataka Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural, D.K. Suresh had hit out at the Bommai government questioning the quality of textbooks.
Issuing a clarification over the alleged picture of the actor on the textbook and criticism in this connection, KTBS in a statement today said, "We have verified, following the media reports, and no text books of any subjects from Class I to X has published such a photo (of the actor). Also none of the textbooks published by the Karnataka Text Book Society has such an image."
Hitting back at the MP, former Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar too in a Facebook said the photo of the actor was not published in the official textbook brought out by the department, but from a private publication book.
"It is a photo published in some private publication book and has nothing to do with our textbooks....the Member of Parliament is either misleading or misled," he added.
Taking a dig at the government, Congress MP Suresh in a tweet had said, "The standard of education in our state is crumbling under the BJP. Students already have a reduced syllabus. No supervision of govt over teaching. Now, the textbooks have images taken off from internet instead of well researched report by Textbook Prep Committee."
Questioning the current and former Primary and Secondary Education Ministers B.C. Nagesh and Suresh Kumar as to where these textbooks are being prepared, he said, "Are they being done at Keshav Krupa (RSS state headquarters) or at the Education Dept? Today, entire state stands ashamed in front of the nation due to BJPs incompetence."