A revolutionary move by the Bangladeshi caretaker government, the National Curriculum and Textbook Board has commissioned 57 educationists to prepare new textbooks for primary, secondary and high schools, which will be printed in a quantity of 400 million, with mention and pictures of Begum Hasina removed, and mention of Sheikh Mujib has also been reduced or shortened in many places.
The mention of India’s nefarious help in breaking up a united Pakistan has also become mandatory. Pictures of Indira Gandhi have been removed. In place of the deleted material, mentions of other Bengali Muslim leaders such as Maulvi Fazlul Haq, Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy, Maulana Bhashani have been included.
Also, mention and pictures of the historic student and public movement against the Hasina Wajid government are also part of the curriculum. The caretaker government has largely eliminated the toxic anti-Pakistan propaganda in textbooks through the education reform project, which is a welcome development. Now, anti-Pakistan thinking and sentiments will decrease among the new generation of Bangladeshis and the people of the two brotherly Islamic countries will be able to come closer.
The emerging alliance between Pakistan and Bangladesh in South Asia can bring new positive changes.
