Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari sets target of 1,000 Vidya Bharati schools, warns schools over Vande Mataram

 

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has set an ambitious target for expanding the network of Vidya Bharati schools, announcing that the state will set up at least 1,000 institutions in a year.

Vidya Bharati is the education wing connected with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the chief minister said during an event celebrating the organisation's anniversary at Kolkata's Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture that it should be set in every district, municipality and panchayat in West Bengal.

The Chief Minister said that Vidya Bharati should take a bigger role in spreading what he called 'nationalistic learning'. West Bengal currently has more than 300 Vidya Bharati schools, while the organisation runs over 12,000 schools and around 10,000 Bal Sanskar Kendras in India.

Adhikari also announced a plan for a massive restructuring of the state's education administration, saying that the current school education, higher education, technical education and minority education departments would be brought together. Under his proposal, madrassa education would no longer have its own separate administrative arrangement.

Adhikari warned educational institutions of withdrawing government financial assistance and other support if they did not comply with the mandatory singing of the full version of Vande Mataram during school prayers.

Speaking about the programme, the Chief Minister said his government is working to incorporate Indian culture, traditions, patriotism and nationalist values in the educational system. He also said that he is critical of the education policies of previous governments and that reforms are needed to strengthen the state's educational and cultural foundations.

The announcements are likely to spark a wide debate about the role of ideological and cultural education in schools, especially regarding the proposed expansion of RSS-linked Vidya Bharati institutions and the government's suggested restructuring of education departments.