Five bizarre 'lessons' in Indian textbooks
India, which has a literacy level well below the global average, has intensified its efforts in the field of education.
In 2012 the country passed the Right to Education act which guarantees free and compulsory education for all children until the age of 14.
However, some of the "facts" that have been found in textbooks around the country have given rise to speculation over what exactly passes for "education" in India.
Glaring mistakes, downright lies and embellishments in textbooks are often featured in local media.
Women steal jobs
A teacher in the central Indian state of Chhatisgarh recently complained about a textbook for 15-year-olds in the state, which said that unemployment levels had risen post independence because women have begun working in various sectors.
Never trust a meat eater
A national textbook for 11-year-old students created uproar in 2012 when it was discovered that it said that people who eat meat "easily cheat, tell lies, forget promises, are dishonest and tell bad words, steal, fight and turn to violence and commit sex crimes".
'Donkey' wives
In 2006, it was discovered that a textbook for 14-year-olds in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan compared housewives to donkeys.
"A donkey is like a housewife. It has to toil all day and, like her, may even have to give up food and water. In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents' home, you'll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master," the Times of India quoted the Hindi language textbook as saying.
Japan did what in World War Two?
In what can only be described as a complete distortion of history, a social science textbook believed to have been taught to 50,000 students in the western Indian state of Gujarat declared that Japan had launched a nuclear attack on the US during World War Two.
'Sewage' Canal
Don't be too shocked if you find students from the west Indian state of Maharashtra telling you that the "Sewage Canal" is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. That is how the Suez Canal has been spelled in an English language textbook in the state.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34336826
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