Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty on Monday said some members of the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) panel would be barred from future academic work after a factual error about Subhas Chandra Bose was found in a draft teachers’ handbook.

In a Facebook post, Sivankutty admitted that a “historical inaccuracy” had crept into the revised Class 4 Environmental Studies teachers’ handbook. The draft reportedly described Netaji as having fled to Germany “fearing the British.”

The minister said the error was immediately corrected once it was brought to the government’s attention. “The SCERT was directed to fix the mistake and reprint the handbook with accurate historical details. The corrected version has also been uploaded on the official website,” he said.

Sivankutty stressed that Kerala’s curriculum revisions are based on facts and constitutional values, unlike what he alleged were politically motivated distortions of history by the Centre. “We will continue to present historical facts realistically to children,” he added.

He also confirmed that the SCERT has been instructed to permanently debar the panel member responsible for the error from participating in future academic activities.