The government is preparing to include content about the student-led uprising into school textbooks for the 2025 academic year.

NCTB Chairman Professor Reazul Hassan told The Daily Star that the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has started developing materials depicting the riot.

The materials are likely to appear as images, poems or articles and will be included in Bangla and English textbooks for classes 5 to 10, he said.

The Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina, which was ousted on August 5, had introduced the National Curriculum-2022, which was introduced in 2023 for first, sixth and seventh classes and this year for second, third, eighth and ninth classes. .

Describing it as “impracticable”, the interim government decided to terminate this curriculum and revert to the curriculum framed in 2012.

The currently printed textbooks belong to the 2012 curriculum. The printing of Bangla and English books for classes five to 10 has not started yet.

When asked whether the stories would focus on individuals who lost their lives, the NCTB president said there might be stories about Begum Rokeya University student Abu Sayed, Khulna University student Mir Mahfuzur Rahman Mugdho or others.

“There will be materials on all major uprisings in the country’s history. We have plans to include the last uprising and its heroes in these articles,” Prof Reazul said. he added.

The textbook board president said there will also be content about graffiti and Generation Z (those born between the late 1990s and early 2010s), who played a key role in the uprising.

He also said that the textbooks’ cover pages would contain a lot of graffiti depicting the previously agreed upon uprising.

The interim government had decided to remove “exaggerated” historical information or “unnecessary” praise for individuals from 2025 textbooks.

Materials reflecting the former government’s narratives, including speeches by ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, will also be removed, according to NCTB officials.

While the existing textbooks focus mainly on the role of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the War of Independence, the new editions will also feature contributions of other notables like Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, Tajuddin Ahmad, Syed Nazrul Islam, General Ataul Gani Osmani. According to some members of the textbook revision committee and Ziaur Rahman.

There may be changes in the chapter on the history of the War of Independence in the Bangladesh and Global Studies book for grades 4 to 10.

According to NCTB sources, “Bangabandhu’s Declaration of Independence dated March 26” may be revised. The text might read: “On 26 March Ziaur Rahman declared independence” and on 27 March they said a renewed declaration of independence was made in the name of Bangabandhu.

Additionally, various materials in Bangla textbooks for classes 11 to 12 are also undergoing revision. As a part of this, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s article titled “Days of ’52” will be removed. Sources said that works by Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Mahadev Saha were also brought down.

Author and researcher Rakhal Raha, who was involved in the textbook revision process, said that from an educational perspective, the most important challenge is how to include the latest movements in textbooks.

“There have been discussions with stakeholders about where and how this content should appear. While there are different perspectives, everyone agrees that at least a minimum amount of content related to the recent uprising should be included.” he said.

He said the textbooks were for educational purposes and this was not reflected in the previous government’s actions. “We are focused on avoiding potential duplication of past approaches.”

“Our aim is to maintain the integrity of the purpose of the textbooks and at the same time consider how and to what extent recent history can be included in the textbooks to keep them educationally focused,” Rakhal told this newspaper.

Fatihul Quadir, editor-in-chief (in-charge) of NCTB, said that some textbooks will include poetry and essays. “However, the contents have not been finalized yet. We are still developing these materials and hope to complete the content within a week.”

This year, NCTB is printing over 40 crore textbooks for free distribution to over 4 crore students in primary and secondary schools.

Books for grades first through third grade have already been sent for printing, while the rest are expected to be completed next month.

“We expect to dispatch more than 90 per cent of textbooks for all classes by December 25 this year. We may see slight delays in the distribution of the remaining books,” Prof Reazul said.