The country’s educational curriculum is set for a sweeping transformation in the 2026 academic year, with key political titles removed, new adjectives added, and historic events rewritten or reinterpreted.
The National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) has confirmed that Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will no longer be referred to as “Bangabandhu” in textbooks for secondary and higher secondary classes. The historic 7 March speech—long a centrepiece of Bangladesh’s liberation history—will disappear from several books, while Sheikh Hasina, ousted by the 2024 mass uprising, will be described in class eight texts as a “fascist”.
Officials say the changes are part of a multi-year curriculum review aimed at correcting factual inaccuracies and simplifying difficult content. But the revisions, coming at a politically sensitive time, have triggered debate about how the state curates the country’s most foundational historical narratives.
Under the new curriculum, textbooks will present Sheikh Mujibur Rahman without his long-institutionalised honorific. Chapters featuring his role in Bangladesh’s independence movement will now refer simply to “Sheikh Mujibur Rahman”, and captions describing photographs of the 7 March speech have been rewritten accordingly.
In contrast, Sheikh Hasina will be introduced in class eight history books with the descriptor “fascist”. HM Ershad, the military ruler who fell to the pro-democracy movement of the 1990s, will appear with the label “dictator”.
New content also introduces Sheikh Mujib’s establishment of BAKSAL, Ziaur Rahman’s multi-party reforms, Khaleda Zia’s democratic government, and what the books call the Awami League’s “three controversial elections”.
Officials involved in the revisions decline to comment on the academic criteria used to justify adding or removing political adjectives. Their silence has heightened public scrutiny over the role of state influence in the process.
One senior NCTB official said, “They say that the history presented in textbooks had long been made centred on a single individual. They are now trying to ensure that each person’s role is reflected as it actually was. These changes were not the decision of any single person. They were brought based on the unanimous decision of the National Curriculum Coordination Committee (NCCC), formed with the country’s top-level education experts.”
Several chapters at the junior secondary level have been renamed to include “mass movements” and “democratic struggles”, broadening the narrative beyond the Liberation War.
A section on the 1954 United Front victory has been corrected for accuracy, while the Agartala conspiracy case entry has been shortened with explanatory text removed. The widely circulated image of Abu Saeed—shot dead during the July 2024 uprising in Rangpur—has been added to the class eight Liberation War and democratic struggles chapter.
A new paragraph outlines Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad’s wartime administrative reforms. It states: “With the aim of establishing national unity during the Liberation War, in July 1971 Prime Minister Tajuddin Ahmad divided the country into 11 administrative regions.”
The revised book also includes the responsibilities of these regions and an expanded description of the 11 war sectors.
At the same time, major guerrilla groups—including the Mujib Bahini and the forces linked to the Communist Party, NAP and Chhatra Union—have been removed from the new lists, marking a notable shift in how the Liberation War’s diverse resistance networks are represented.
Higher secondary books adopt new literature and speeches
The Bangla syllabus replaces the well-known lyrical work Mahua with Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s autobiographical prose Atmacharit. A fresh essay, “Literature, Songs and Slogans in the Graffiti of the July Uprising”, is added.
In English textbooks, the chapter formerly titled “Three Speeches”—containing addresses by Mandela, Lincoln and Sheikh Mujib—has been restructured. Mujib’s 7 March speech is removed entirely, replaced with a new prose selection titled “July Uprising: A Transformative Movement”, under the chapter’s new name, “Transformative Speeches”.
Concerns over political influence
The officials involved in the changes seem to be operating under a ‘speak as little as possible’ policy.
None of the NCTB officials agreed to comment on the academic standards regarding the use of adjectives before any person’s name in textbooks.
An anonymous member of the curriculum committee argued that some updates were overdue but acknowledged the political dimension.
“Some changes in textbooks were necessary. Regarding the exclusion of the historic 7 March speech, he said the speech is still covered in other lessons. On removing titles or adding adjectives before names, he added that such matters depend on the government’s policy decisions,” they said.
Others warn that both political glorification and political vilification carry long-term risks for national education.
Professor Mohammod Moninoor Roshid of Dhaka University’s Institute of Education and Research said, “Everything in the textbooks should come from an impartial point. We need to stay away from political glorification or political stigma. Through education we want to create a certain kind of value which is helpful for shaping students’ minds.”
Professor Shoaib Gibran of Bangladesh Open University was similarly critical.
“Political interference is extremely strong in Bangladesh’s education system. Those who are in power expect adjectives according to their taste and desire. Political interference in the education system should be reduced. The less politics is removed from education, the better for the education system. Education should not be associated with politics,” he said.
