West Bengal Considers Major Revisions to School Textbooks

The West Bengal government is reportedly preparing significant changes to school textbooks, with the state's syllabus committee proposing the replacement of several Arabic- and Persian-origin words used in Bengali textbooks for students from Grades 1 to 10.

According to the proposal, commonly used words such as pani (water), amma (mother), asman (sky), dost (friend), kitab (book), imarat (building), fajr (dawn prayer), and gosol (bath) could be removed or replaced with what the committee describes as more traditional Bengali alternatives.

Members of the syllabus committee have argued that celebrated Bengali literary figures such as Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay did not generally use these words in their writings, and therefore they should not be included in school textbooks. Critics, however, believe the proposed changes primarily target words associated with Islamic culture and heritage.

The committee has also proposed removing references to the Singur movement from the Grade 8 curriculum, as well as the Kanyashree welfare scheme from the Grade 6 and Grade 8 textbooks.

The recommendations are expected to be submitted to the state government within the next 15 days.

The proposals have already sparked political debate. Critics have described the move as an attempt to reshape Bengal's linguistic and cultural heritage, while supporters argue that the revisions are intended to standardize textbook language. West Bengal's Education Minister has said he is not yet aware of the recommendations and will examine them once they are formally submitted to the government.