Fact Check: No, Malayalam actor Kunchacko Boban's photo was not published in Karnataka school textbook

Reports related to the same were also published by some mainstream media houses, including Deccan Herald (Archive) and The New Indian Express (Archive).

The New Indian Express had further stated that "the featured picture in the textbook is a still from Kunchacko's 2010 movie Oridathoru Postman, where he had essayed the role of a village postman."

Fact Check

The claim is misleading.

NewsMeter found that the post was first shared by the actor on his Facebook and Instagram pages with a funny caption that can roughly be translated as, "Finally managed to get a government job in Karnataka. The prayers of the postman who delivered letters all those years ago."

On performing a keyword search, we found follow-up articles published by Deccan Herald and The New Indian Express on the same.

According to Deccan Herald, The Karnataka Textbook Society had issued a clarification stating that none of the textbooks from classes 1 to 10 have any picture of Boban.

Meanwhile, according to the report published by The New Indian Express, "An official statement made by the Department of Public Instruction says that the textbook had not been published by KTBS, and that the textbook was not included in any syllabus for classes 1 to 10. The book had allegedly been published by a private publication."

Many other mainstream media organizations, including The Week and The Times of India, had also published reports refuting the claim that the actor's image was published in a Karnataka textbook.

We then found a Facebook post by the former minister of primary and secondary education of Karnataka, S. Suresh Kumar, from 2 February 2022. He had shared the viral image along with a few more photos of the study guide.

He wrote, "Congress Member of Parliament Sri D.K Suresh has sought clarification from me and the current education minister on one matter. Putting photos of Malayalam film actors in a state class book titled "Ancheyanna" was asked as BJP government's work and under whose direction it was done. Mr. DK Suresh. Don't be so rushed. The discretion of urgent takes away. Your perception is completely wrong. This is definitely not an official textbook published by our state's education department. This is a privately published book in Hubli…Portrait of a Malayali actor in a book printed by a private firm, which has no relation (sic)."

It is therefore evident that the claim made through the viral post is misleading. Malayalam actor Kunchacko Boban's picture was not published in a Karnataka state textbook. It was included in a book published by a private publisher.