The historic speech of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman delivered on 7 March 1971 will no longer be included in the Class 8 Bengali textbook for the 2026 academic year. However, the speech or its content will continue to be featured in various history-related textbooks at secondary school levels.
The decision was made on Sunday during a meeting of the National Curriculum Advisory Committee held at the Secondary and Higher Education Division of the Ministry of Education.
A committee member, requesting anonymity, confirmed the decision. “The speech will remain in history books because it is a historical event. But the content of the Bengali literature textbook is not aligned with the speech, so it has been excluded from the Bengali book,” the member said.
Earlier in August, the National Curriculum Coordination Committee finalised the content for textbooks for classes 6 to 10 for the 2026 academic session.
During that meeting, debates arose over whether to keep the 7 March speech in the Class 8 Bengali textbook. Some members proposed removing it, while others suggested including a shortened version.
The speech was originally included in the Bengali textbook during the tenure of the Awami League-led government.
