West Bengal: Govt makes Bengali compulsory from Class 1 to 10 in all schools

In what is being touted as a move to counter the Centre’s decision to make Hindi compulsory in all ICSE and CBSE schools from Class I to X, state education minister Dr Partha Chatterjee called an urgent press conference on Monday night and said that all schools in West Bengal irrespective of boards would have to have three languages from Class I to X, one of which would have to be Bengali.

“From now, every student would compulsorily need to learn Bengali in schools. English medium schools will have Bengali as an optional subject, either as a second or third language, from Class I,” Dr Chatterjee said.

The seven languages offered in schools affiliated to the West Bengal board at present are Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Alchiki and Gurumukhi.

According to the new rule, students who have any other language other than Bengali as their first language, would have to opt for two more languages, one of which would have to be Bengali.

Dr Chatterjee, however, brushed aside the speculation that the move to counter Centre’s decision of making Hindi compulsory. “It has been decided because we have received complaints that Bengali language was not an option at several schools here,” Dr Chatterjee said.

He also said that legalities of the decision were being looked into and he was hopeful that a clearance by the state cabinet would be good enough to put it in force.