Madiba, Sachin in Madhyamik syllabus?

KOLKATA: After Sourav Ganguly, is it the time for Nelson Mandela and Sachin Tendulkar to find a way into the Madhyamik syllabus? If things go according to plans, the syllabus committee may propose to include these two stalwarts in text books from the next academic session.
"I've had a preliminary discussion with education minister Bratya Basu. We are trying to make text books more contemporary.Earlier, the topics did not relate to life or match the everyday experience of students. Now we are trying to link the topics with everyday experience. Basu has given us a go-ahead. We may incorporate the two achievers in Class IX and X syllabi. They may be not be clubbed into history syllabus but fall in English," said syllabus revamp committee chairman Avik Mazumdar.
Earlier, the committee had introduced Ganguly as part of the project work in Bengali of classes XI and XII. "So it was only obvious that Tendulkar too should be made a part of the syllabus. Till now we only had his pictures in the text books of class V in English," Mazumdar said.
The text books of pre-primary to class VIII are on their way to reach the students. "The text books will be implemented from January 2, 2014 which is the book day," the syllabus committee chairman added.
In English, a portion of narative has been lifted from Sugato Bose's prominent book - His Majesty's Opponent which is based on the life of Subhash Chandra Bose. "In Bengali among contemporary writers we have included Moti Nandi's story, Amarendra Chakraborty's travelogue and even the likes of Ajay Roy. The poets like Shankha Ghosh and Shakti Chattopadhyay, Pranabendu Dasgupta, Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Nirendranath Chakraborty and essayists like Binay Ghosh, Hirendranath Dutta and others have been included in the syllabus," Mazumdar said.
"We are trying to create a separate space keeping in mind the children with special needs. In Physical Education we are suggesting games based on their needs and for students suffering from problem with the vision, the fonts are bigger in the text books," he added.
"I will comment after receiving a proposal from the syllabus committee formally. However, we are not opposed to the idea," Basu said