The parents of primary school children in West Bengal’s Burdwan district staged a protest against the school after an illustration in the book depicts a dark-skinned person as ugly.
According to the reports coming in from West Bengal, is an illustration of the children’s curriculum book of alphabets, the letter ‘U’ is described as Ugly along with a photo of dark skin person next to it. Upon knowing this, the parents were not comfortable with their children being taught racism and hence staged a protest against the school.
The book, however, was not confined to one school. It turns out that the book is issued by the pre-primary department of the government-run school Municipal girls high school in the same district. A teacher of Kolkata Bangbasi college spoke about the textbook and said,
“My daughter is studying in this Municipal Girls High School. I came across this subject while teaching my daughter. It is completely wrong to educate children by calling a black person ugly in this way. This book should be withdrawn soon. In any case, the education being given to children in the name of blacks will work to fill their tender hearts with inferiority complexes and discriminate against blacks. This is wrong.”
Two Teachers Suspended
Swapan Kumar Dutt, the district inspector of School Primary Education refused to comment initially but later acknowledged that such education is not right. He said,
“This kind of book is not an official book given by the school. We will still talk to the school about it. If needed, the book should be changed.”
The West Bengal government suspended two teachers immediately after a proper investigation and assured that strict action will be taken against them. The State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee spoke in an interview and clarified that the textbook was not issued by the government. He said,
“The book is not part of the textbooks referred by the education department. It was introduced by the school itself. We have zero-tolerance for acts which instill prejudices into the minds of the students.”
The issue came into the limelight after the father of one of the children took note and informed other parents.
Source: Scoopwhoop
