Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari targets 1,000 RSS-run schools in a year, calls for education department merger

Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari set a target Thursday to establish at least 1,000 schools run by RSS's education wing Vidya Bharati in every district, municipality and panchayat within a year. He also suggested a plan to merge the state's four education departments into one, specifying that there would be no separate administration for madrassa education. Adhikari, who spoke at an event to mark the 74th anniversary of Vidya Bharati at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, urged the body to shoulder the responsibility of imparting what he termed "nationalistic learning". He invited its brass to the secretariat to meet officials and take the initiative forward. Bengal has 313 such schools. Nationally, Vidya Bharati runs over 12,000 schools and 10,000 Bal Sanskar Kendras. The CM said he wanted the organisation to focus on establishing more schools in Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas, alleging that "more anti-national activities take place" in these districts. The erstwhile TMC govt, he said, polluted the education environment and institutions like Vidya Bharati would need to "help the state come out of this". He accused TMC of even twisting the Bengali syllabus to divide people. "Mother was referred to as 'amma' and not 'ma'... The syllabus was created in such a way that Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's or Swami Vivekananda's lessons remained neglected..."

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Invoking Syama Prasad Mookerjee's call of "ek desh, ek bidhan, ek nishan, ek pradhan", the CM said it would apply to education, too. "We won't allow an arrangement where the higher education department will look after all universities, while another department will look after Aliah University," he said. Aliah University is currently managed by the state's minority affairs department. "I felicitated the board toppers. Later, the minority affairs department sent a separate file containing the names of 27 Muslim students. I asked why? ... I have already felicitated 20 students, and they include Muslims, Jains and Buddhists." Anand Rao, a Vidya Bharati official, told TOI its schools train students in "bharatiyatwa (Indianness)" as well as puja rituals. Some run till Class 5, others up to classes 8, 10 and 12.The website of Vidya Bharati Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Sansthan states its vision is "to develop a system of education which would help build a younger generation committed to Hindutva and infused with patriotic fervour".

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