Singur movement to be part of Class VIII history curriculum

The Singur movement, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, will make its way into the History textbook of Class VIII students.

The state Education department earlier had proposed to include the saga of Singur in the school syllabus. State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee recently held a meeting with the Chairman of the syllabus committee, where the inclusion of the Singur land movement was discussed and the decision to include it in Class VIII syllabus of state government schools was taken.

According to a source in the Education department, the history of the Singur land movement – which is also subject of research across the world with many researchers showing interest – will be included in the Class VIII syllabus from the next academic year.

The syllabus committee has already made a draft of the Singur incidents which have taken place over the year.

From the initial days of the Singur movement to the distribution of parcha (land documents) and giving out the physical possessions of land after the Supreme Court judgment –all these will be included in the history of Singur, the source said.

“The Singur movement will put in the syllabus with respect to the earlier land movements that had taken place from the British period. Earlier, it had been decided that it would be included in the curriculum of Class IX and Class X, but later the decision was changed,” said the source.

Partha Chatterjee said his department will propose to the syllabus committee to include the history of Singur in the curriculum of other classes as well so that school-going children could learn how farmers, many of whom were robbed of their land, fought against the erstwhile Left Front government.

The Singur movement, the struggles of farmers against the erstwhile Left Front government, and the efforts to gobble up the lands for the benefit of a private company will find its place in the history textbook.

The movement received attention of people from all spheres of lives.

The land movement brought socio-political change among poor farmers across the nation.

Activists such as Anuradha Talwar, Medha Patkar, Mahasweta Devi and others had given their unequivocal support to the Singur movement and took the Chief Minister’s side.

Intellectuals brought the issue to the fore in the international arena and exposed how the Left Front government acquired land in Singur.

The Supreme Court also termed the land acquisition as ‘unconstitutional’, ordering that the land had to be returned to its original owners within 12 weeks.

“Our students should know the land movement of the farmers in Singur, parallel to other land movements in their curriculum,” Partha Chatterjee had earlier said.