Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Added to Textbooks, Mughal History Reduced

The Syllabus-cum-Curriculum Committee of West Bengal has proposed major revisions to school textbooks across the state, scheduled to take effect on January 2, 2027. The recommendations include introducing the life and contributions of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee into school curricula from pre-primary to Class 12. Mr. Mukherjee founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951, which is widely regarded as the political predecessor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Earlier, the Higher Education Department instructed state-aided educational institutions to feature his legacy prominently.

As part of the curriculum restructuring, the committee has recommended removing certain political and welfare chapters introduced during the Trinamool Congress regime. Notably, the chapter on the Singur land movement, led by Mamata Banerjee against the Left Front government’s land acquisition for Tata Motors, is set to be dropped from the Class 8 history textbook. Additionally, the committee suggested removing the chapter on the Kanyashree scheme, a flagship initiative launched in 2013 to promote female education and welfare, from Health and Physical Education textbooks for Classes 6 to 8.

Language and literature curriculum are also slated for significant modifications to align textbooks with everyday usage and traditional literary works. The committee advised replacing words deemed less common in daily Bengali usage, such as substituting ‘Pani’ with ‘Jol’ for water, as well as altering terms like ‘Amma’ and ‘Abba’. In secondary-level literature, proposed replacements include substituting Rabindranath Tagore’s poem Africa with Shivaji Utsav, and swapping Sachindranath Sengupta’s play Siraj-ud-Daulah with Dwijendralal Ray’s Mebar Patan.

The committee has also recommended scaling down content related to the Mughal era and Communism in history lessons, shifting focus toward figures associated with India’s freedom struggle. Elaborating on this approach, Professor Debasish Chatterjee, Chairman of the Syllabus Committee, informed, ‘History of the Mughal Empire will remain, but only to the extent necessary for students’. He further explained that the committee has recommended featuring the life and contributions of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee at the beginning of every textbook from pre-primary to Class 12.

The proposed recommendations are currently awaiting final approval from the state government before implementation. Education Minister Dipak Barman stated that the syllabus committee is actively overseeing the matter and that he will review the recommendations once they are officially submitted to him. The committee noted that several revised chapters for Bengali and English subjects have already been submitted for state approval, with the remaining portions expected to be submitted shortly.

Source: The Indian Express