On the evening of Monday, 15 May, a rather haste press conference called by the State Education Minister of West Bengal, Partha Chatterjee, revealed the major decision of making Bengali compulsory in all schools – even the private English medium schools, according to a report published by The Hindu.
This decision with its multi-fold implications on the cultural and political fronts, stated that Bengali will now be a compulsory language till Class X across all schools irrespective of the board they are affiliated to.
From now on, it will be compulsory for students to learn Bengali in schools. English-medium schools will have to make it an optional subject from Class I so that the students can study it either as second or third language.Partha Chatterjee to The Hindu.
So far, Bengali was not a mandatory language out of the three languages taught in schools. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on 14 May, through a Facebook post, clarified that this was the “three-language agenda” of the state government, according to a report by The Indian Express. Her Facebook post said:
We respect every mother tongue and also give every regional language its importance. We believe in the freedom of choice and the three-language formula. Students have the freedom to take any language as a first language, second or third language. If a student chooses Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Gurmukhi, Nepali, Alchiki as a first language, he/she may opt for two other languages of their choice. One of the three languages would have to be Bengali. The other two choices are completely dependent on what the student chooses
Mamata Banerjee believes that this method adopted by her government will enable students to reach regional, national and international standards.
The decision, however, brings with it speculations about Mamata trying to promote regionalism and perhaps curate political favouritism and support out of it.
Biswanath Chakraborty, Professor of Political Science at Rabindra Bharti University, thinks the move is fuelled by political motives.
The decision clearly indicates an attempt by the TMC government to encourage regionalism and reap political dividends out of it. By playing on the Bengali sentiment, the TMC wants to counter the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is widely perceived as a North India party.Biswanath Chakraborty to The Hindu
After a similar decision taken by the Kerala government to make Malayalam compulsory in all schools of the state earlier in April this year, the question if it is a purely academic move lingers.
(With inputs from reports by The Hindu and The Indian Express.)
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