Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday said his government is committed to revamping the state’s education system in line with Swami Vivekananda’s vision of education focused on character-building, mental strength and self-reliance, rather than mere examination-oriented learning.
Addressing the Vidyasagar Shiksha Samman 2026 function, organised jointly by the state School Education and Higher Education departments, the Chief Minister said the teachings of Swami Vivekananda had gradually been removed from the education system in recent years, weakening its core values.
“Swamiji said that true learning would instill faith in oneself and empower individuals to stand on their own. Swamiji also emphasised physical health besides academic excellence. During the last few years, the education system in West Bengal was hampered because the teachings of Swamiji were slowly removed from the education system. We will now have to revive that ethos besides adopting technology in the modern education system,” Adhikari said.
The Chief Minister also launched a scathing attack against the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government for doing away with the National Cadet Corps (NCC), which, according to him, is an important national body ensuring physical fitness among students, making them disciplined and also imbibing the spirit of nationalism and patriotism among the students.
“The previous government discontinued the NCC system in schools and colleges. Instead, the previous state government introduced ‘Jai Hind Vahini’. Removing NCC from the education system was a blunder,” he said.
He also launched a scathing attack against the previous government over the rampant corruption in recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in the state-run schools. But now we have decided to thoroughly clean up the recruitment process, where the appointments will be done strictly on a merit basis,” CM Adhikari said.
CM Adhikari also cautioned the students not to get swayed by the brainwashing exercise by some anti-national forces.
“These anti-national forces remain silent when the terrorists kill Indian tourists at Pulwama. But the same anti-national groups bring out anti-war rallies after Operation Sindoor was launched. I appeal to the students to be careful about these anti-national groups,” the Chief Minister said.
(IANS)
