Last Updated on January 5, 2026 5:57 pm by INDIAN AWAAZ
Zakir Hossain from Dhaka
Bangladesh’s interim government has revised primary and secondary school textbooks for the 2026 academic year, removing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s March 7, 1971 speech from several books and adding new content on the July–August 2024 mass uprising.
The changes emerged after the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) uploaded revised textbooks online on December 28. A review shows major edits to references to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in secondary-level Bangladesh and Global Studies and Bengali textbooks.
The most notable change is in the Class VIII Bengali textbook Sahitya Kanika, where the March 7 speech—previously included as “Ebarer Sangram Swadhinatar Sangram”, has been removed. Prose chapters were reduced from 12 to 11, replaced by “Gana Obbhuthyan” (Mass Uprising), which compares the July–August 2024 movement with the mass uprisings of 1969 and 1990, stating that while earlier movements were led by political parties, “in the July uprising, however, there was no leadership from any political party. The movement was led by students and joined by people from all walks of life.”
Similar revisions have been made from Classes VI to VIII, while at the higher secondary level, a lesson related to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s speech has been removed from the English textbook.
NCTB sources said revisions to chapters on the Liberation War and state formation began in phases after the interim government took office on August 8, following the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, 2024, after the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education instructed removal of what it called “exaggerated information” related to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. While the March 7 speech has largely been removed, three lines remain in the Class VIII Bangladesh and Global Studies book under a separate heading, naming Sheikh Mujibur Rahman without using “Bangabandhu.” The Six-Point Movement is mentioned without naming him, and the 1969 mass uprising omits how he came to be known as “Bangabandhu.” The term “Father of the Nation” had already been dropped in 2025; remaining references to his political rise have now also been removed.
NCTB chairman (additional charge) Md Mahbubul Haque Patwary said, “I was not in charge when the textbooks were revised. The process was completed before I joined. For details, the chief editor should be contacted.” Chief editor Muhammad Fatihul Qadir declined to comment. Officials said a 57-member editorial panel prepared the revisions, approved by the National Curriculum Coordination Committee, with educationists and analysts viewing the overhaul as reflecting Bangladesh’s political transition.