Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari targets CJP; pushes syllabus changes and tablet-based learning

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday, in an apparent attack on the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), said programmes aimed at instilling nationalism among students should be organised every year to keep them away from the influence of “vices like cockroaches”. Adhikari said a three-day programme featuring elocution, quizzes and debates should be held annually in all educational institutions to help students develop a sense of nationalism.

“Vices like cockroaches, bedbugs, tukde tukde gangs… which are trying to spread like the coronavirus… would not have required the spraying of ‘Hit’ (had they not tried to spread),” he said. Hit is a brand of mosquito and bug-repellent spray.

Targeting the Left parties and the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), the chief minister said the 34-year rule of the “nastik” (atheist) Communists and the 15-year TMC government had attempted to erase people's heritage and culture. He also accused the previous TMC government of attempting to stop enrolments in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in educational institutions across the state and introducing the ‘Jai Hind Vahini’ in its place.

Also read For every 100 boys, only 59 girls in rural India complete Class 12: UNESCO Report

“Being in the NCC would have helped the students get selected as Agniveers in the armed forces,” Adhikari said after meeting a family that lost a member in a stampede at the Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata on October 17. Adhikari also claimed that those who drove Tata Motors out of Singur were “eulogised” in a chapter in school history textbooks during the TMC regime. He was referring to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the anti-land acquisition agitations.

“Changes will be seen in the syllabi from the next academic year,” he said, asserting that the National Education Policy (NEP) would be implemented in West Bengal. The chief minister also said he opposed the use of mobile phones by students up to Class 12. He said the BJP government would provide students with tablets to support their studies instead of the Rs 10,000 previously given by the TMC government to each Class 11 student to purchase a mobile phone. Adhikari said the BJP government would not allow literature in West Bengal that was anti-India, anti-Sanatani or hurt any religion. “People have repulsed such attempts that were undertaken by setting up stalls,” he said, referring to book stalls set up by Left parties in parts of the state.

Schools closed due to zero enrolment

The West Bengal government has formed a committee to assess the future of 933 state-aided schools that have been closed due to zero enrolment, with options including revival or alternative use of their infrastructure for public purposes. School Education Minister Dipak Barman said the government is examining the situation, which has worsened over the past five years, and is also assessing teacher availability at these institutions.

Also read Jadavpur University has 63 researchers in top 2% scientists list – highest count among state institutions

District-level committees headed by district magistrates have been directed to physically verify the schools and prepare inventories of buildings, classrooms, land and other assets. The committees will also assess the condition and ownership of the properties, availability of basic amenities and the possibility of using idle infrastructure as training centres, health centres, agricultural and rural development centres or community facilities.

The government has asked for district-wise reports with recommendations within 30 days. Where revival is feasible, the committees may consider restructuring schools, while schools in remote areas with no nearby alternatives are expected to continue functioning. Barman said the government was not in favour of handing over the properties entirely under the public-private partnership model. The exercise comes amid wider concerns over school enrolment in the state, with UDISE+ data showing that 4,133 schools reported zero enrolment in 2025-26.