West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday called for debates, quiz competitions and elocution contests centred on nationalism to be organised in the state's educational institutions for at least three days every year, saying nationalist feeling must be instilled in students from a very young age. He was speaking to media persons in Kolkata.

Source: Nation Press

Adhikari said such programmes were needed to stop what he described as divisive and anti-national forces from influencing young minds, comparing those forces to the coronavirus. According to The Hindu's report of the same address, he said a three-day elocution, quiz and debate programme should be held every year in all educational institutions, and, in a veiled attack on the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), spoke of keeping students away from 'vices like cockroaches'. These are the Chief Minister's own characterisations, reported as his remarks.

Source: The Hindu via ScoopFeeds

The Chief Minister also proposed that school students be given exposure to traditional Indian musical instruments — including the tabla, harmonium, santoor, mridangam and tambourine — so they can develop their cultural talents, instead of education remaining limited to textbooks. 'From the next academic year, several changes will be brought in the school syllabus in the state,' he said.

Source: IANS via HiIndia

Adhikari accused the previous Left Front government, which ruled Bengal for 34 years, and the Trinamool Congress government, which ruled for 15 years, of destroying the state's heritage and culture and of neglecting students' cultural talents. The remarks extend the state government's ongoing push to revise school curricula, which has been debated in Bengal for months.

Source: BizzBuzz (IANS)