HYDERABAD: Given the extent to which medical science has evolved, there is no unanswered mystery behind how babies are born. Even an internet-savvy teenager will decipher the birds and bees without batting an eyelid.The Class X biology textbook of the Telangana State Council Educational Research and Training (TSCERT), however, tells students that child birth is still an unsolved mystery. Page 126 of the textbook talks briefly about how babies are delivered with the head coming out first in most cases. It then says, “We still do not know much about the mechanism of child birth and how it is triggered,” which has left many experts flummoxed.This was just one of many misconceptions and mistakes that TOI detected while examining biology textbooks of TSCERT for class VIII, IX and X. At a time when there is a need to remove misconceptions around sex and reproduction among schoolchildren, these textbooks may only confuse them further.For instance, the Class VIII biology textbook has a section explaining how child marriage is a social evil. But the good intentions are quickly lost in what many consider as a regressive definition of marriage. It reads: “Marriage is a social and cultural practice to produce next generation in our country. Before reaching required age to get married is an unhealthy issue (sic).” For the authors of the textbook, the only reason why two people get married is to produce babies for the well-being of the country.Page 124 of the Class X textbook then gives definitions for every single organ in the male and female reproductive system, except vagina and penis.“I can’t understand how they can write in a textbook that they do not know much about the mechanism of childbirth,” says C Srinivasulu, assistant professor of zoology at Osmania University. “There is plenty of material available and there are ways to explain these topics to children.”He also questions the writers’ decision to not include definitions for vagina and penis. “When they can write about testes, urethra, ovaries, and uterus and their functions, why omit these? They could give a simple explanation like the urethra passes through a muscular organ called the penis.”“This only shows the knowledge the textbook writers have about marriage, reproduction, and childbirth,” says Venkata Sainath, joint secretary, Hyderabad Schools Parents Association. “If they fail to impart basic education and give biological explanations, children will start treating the opposite-sex people like objects.”Commenting on the definition of marriage in the textbook, he says, “It would have been better if they had not defined marriage, if this was the only definition they knew.”Anjali Razdan, director of CBSE affiliated Kiros School said, “This speaks of the author's gross ignorance or myopic mindset. Biology is the science of life and it cannot be distorted even remotely unlike hypothetical subjects. The authors are also exposing their conventional mindset and that too before today's Millennials!”TOI could not contact any of the editors of the textbooks as TSCERT officials claimed they did not have the contacts handy. All the editors belonged to Vidya Bhavan Educational Resource Centre, Udaipur .“I was shocked when teachers brought a few errors to my notice,” said a TSCERT official. “I feel it would be wise to keep these textbooks aside and prepare new ones from scratch. Doing so will take less time than correcting errors in the existing ones.”